


The Dark World

by Always111



Category: Loki - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Adventures: Avengers, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), Thor: Dark World - Fandom
Genre: Awesome Frigga (Marvel), Evil Odin (Marvel), Family, Family Feels, Gen, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Loki (Marvel) Feels, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Odin (Marvel)'s Bad Parenting, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Protective Frigga (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:08:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 32,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21978595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Always111/pseuds/Always111
Summary: Eidunn is a young woman with a secret to hide. She's been spending her life in Asgard's dungeons and nothing can surprise her.Until the prince of Asgard moves in beside her.The two will be swept up in a story that's bigger than anything they ever expected and will change their lives forever.finished, I might add more if I feel like it! Have a read!
Relationships: Frigga & Loki, Loki (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Loki (Marvel)/Reader, Loki/Thor (Marvel)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 54





	1. The Stranger

I hadn't seen the sky for so long.

Sometimes, when I was feeling down, I lay on my bed and looked up at the ceiling, pretending the stark whiteness was that beautiful blue with fluffy clouds, and the sun just peeking out from behind them. It scared me that often, I couldn't imagine it anymore.

I remembered running across the green fields of Midgard, the sun in my hair, my summer dress slightly stained from our plays. My mother, calling out across the fields for us to come home for dinner, our baby brother in her arms. Me shouting back that we'd only be a minute.

That was a long time ago. Those days would never return. 

I was shaken from my musings as the guards entered the dungeon, a man in chains between them. He was chained by his wrists, ankles, waist, and neck, which was overkill. I knew from experience that those chains were near impossible to get out of.

The empty cell beside mine had been filled with furniture earlier that day, elegant footstools and couches and a bookshelf full of books, and flowers. I had stood for a while, hands pressed against the magical barrier dividing the two cells, breathing in their perfume and feeling my heart ache with a longing to see the trees and sky once more. How cruel that they place the flowers there, just out of reach.

"Get in and don't struggle." barked one of the guards, unlocking the man's chains and leaving only his hands tied. The man was wearing rich clothes of gold and green, and his hair fell to his shoulders in black curls, the color of my own long locks. I watched his profile as he was pushed into the cell with a sort of detached interest; newcomers were normal. Why should this one be any different?

Then his face turned toward me, and I gasped.

He had my mother's eyes, blue eyes that seemed green in some lights, with small, dark eyelashes that were barely noticeable. My heart beat fast, but I squashed down the question and shook my head firmly. He only had similar eyes, that was all.

He allowed himself to be pushed into the cell and held out his wrists. The guard unlocked them and strode from the cell. The moment the guard left, the magical barrier was in place, glowing with Norse runes and symbols.

The man stood at the barrier, watching the guards leave, his pale hands clasped behind his back. I, in turn, watched the man, my interest piqued against my will.

*****  
When I was a child, I had often wondered why my sister and I weren't allowed to go out of our country town. My mother told us again and again that it wasn't safe, not if our father found out... and then she'd trail off and bite her lip. When my sister was sick, mother couldn't take her to the hospital. She died of fever.

The day she died, my father came for me and my brother. 

The frost giant had taken my hand and I had watched in horror as my skin turned blue, lines appearing and my eyes turned red. Mother had begged him not to take us away from her but he ignored her, taking the baby boy from her arms and looking him over with a scowl on his hideous face.

"He is weak and small. He will be our sacrifice," he growled. Mother kissed my cheek, her eyes full of tears, as the winter stone took us all back to Jotunheim, where I would live for the next year.

I knew Laufey had left my brother on a stone in the temple. I had lost both my siblings and my mother within a year. 

And when the frost giants found my talent for twisting the truth to get what I wanted, they cut out my tongue.

*****  
"Loki, please don't blame your father. You know this is entirely your fault." a woman's voice cut through my painful memories and I rolled over on my bed, noticing the illusion of the Queen Frigga standing in the man's cell. I smiled, realizing who the man was. Loki. The prince of Asgard. 

It had been three days since the arrival of Loki, and he had failed to look at me in the cell beside his. I had stopped watching him, knowing he did not like it.

"My actions were off the lie I have been fed my entire life, that I was born to be a king!" said Loki, striding about his cell as Frigga watched him. His voice was deep and husky, melodious had it not been raised in anger.

"A king, a true king admits his mistakes." Frigga returned, her eyes full of compassion. Loki seemed unable to see that compassion. "What of the lives you took?"

Loki looked at her shortly. "A mere handful compared to that of Odin himself."

"Your father..."

"He is not my father!"

I watched Frigga's face grow cold.

"Then am I not your mother?"

Both their expressions were cold, angry. I saw Frigga's sad eyes as she awaited his response.

"You're not." said Loki. It was quiet, but loud enough for Frigga to hear. I saw tears fill her eyes but she smiled.

"So perceptive, about everyone but yourself," she said, and the illusion began to fade. I saw remorse fill Loki's face but it was too late.

"Mother..." He grasped her hands but they were made of light. I saw panic now, that he would be left alone with his thoughts as she smiled sadly and disappeared.

He had tears in his eyes, now, and he clenched his fists. A burst of magic knocked everything in the cell over. I wished to comfort him but wondered what Frigga meant by the lives he took. Surely this man was not a murderer?


	2. Monster

Loki lay on his couch, reading a book. I stood at the barrier adjoining our cells and watched him fixedly, hoping to make him see. There were times like this when I wished I could talk, to get people's attention.

"What?" 

Loki hadn't moved but he had seen me. His eyes were still on the page. When I didn't speak, he looked up in annoyance. I gave him a small, sad, smile.

"If you want to tell me something, speak," said Loki, his voice commanding. "I am not here to make friends."

I shook my head silently, causing him to rise from his couch and stride over, standing opposite me. He looked a few years younger, although he had a weight in his eyes that showed he had seen things beyond his years. I signed 'I cannot talk' but he obviously did not understand.

"Can't you speak?" 

He evidently meant it as a sarcastic remark but I shook my head and opened my mouth, showing him my absence of a tongue. Only his eyes showed his shock. I signed 'Laufey cut it out' but gave up, turning away. It was hopeless. 

"Wait!"

I turned back to see Loki perusing his bookshelf. He found what he wanted and carried it over to the barrier, showing me the cover. A book of sign language. Lady Frigga was indeed a kind woman.

For the next few days, Loki sat in his cell learning to sign. When he got it right I nodded and answered, and when he made mistakes my eyes laughed at him. If only he knew what he'd just told me.

And so Loki started to understand my hands as they danced and formed silent words.

"What is your name?" Loki asked one day, his eyes on the chapter about letters. I spelled it out, slowly. E-I-D-U-N-N.

"Eidunn," Loki said and nodded his head. "I am Loki, prince of Asgard."

We shared a small smile at the fact that he'd understood what I had said.

"Who cut it out?" Loki asked, gesturing to my mouth. I signed L-A-U-F-E-Y and he pored over the book. Then he froze. His face slowly came up to meet mine, his skin pale and his eyes wide.

"Laufey?"

I nodded and he stood up, striding away from me and looking out at the corridor. I could tell something had shocked him. He turned back and came quickly over.

"How did you come to be in Jotunheim? Tell me!"

I smiled sadly. He would not understand when I told him.

"Guards!" called Loki, and the two at the door walked over. "Why is Eidunn in the dungeons?"

"She's a powerful sorceress, sir." answered one. "Works for the jotuns."

I pressed my palms against the barrier and shook my head, my eyes wide. I never worked for them, but I'd never been able to speak for myself after the big fight where the peace was established and I sneaked into the chariot of the Allfather. When they'd found me, they'd naturally thought I had been trying to kill Odin.

"How long has she been here?"

"Over a thousand years, my lord. A thousand and fifty, to be precise."

That was longer than I'd thought. Loki turned back to me, and the guards made their way to their posts. I saw hate in Loki's eyes and I shrank back.

"You work for the frost giants?"

I shook my head, eyes wide, one palm on the barrier. Loki was shaking a little.

"And here I was, thinking you were someone I could talk with." Loki hissed, and I realized how tall he was. "You're a traitor to Asgard."

The words stung and I closed my eyes, allowing the transformation to come over me. When I opened my eyes, they were red.

For a few, terrible moments, we looked into each other's eyes, and Loki turned away. I thought it was from fright until he turned back and saw, with shock, his eyes were red and his skin blue. He was a jotun.

We had exactly the same lines on our cheeks, the signs of a half-jotun, and I knew why he was so familiar. I backed away, shaking my head and letting my human guise take over once more.

"Who is your mother?"

His voice was urgent as I collapsed on my couch, head in my hands. Images of the little boy, screaming in the temple as the battle began flashed through my mind. Mother, clutching a baby to her chest, his eyes blue and wet. My brother hadn't died that night. He was standing in front of me.

I rose slowly, my heart thudding, tears on my cheeks, and looked into Loki's horror-stricken eyes. He was resting his palm on the barrier. I reached up and slowly placed my hand on the barrier exactly where his hand was, and let the memories overcome us.

****  
We were standing in the farmhouse, looking down into a cradle. On the other side stood younger me, looking at my newborn baby brother, still unnamed. Young Eidunn held out her hand to the little baby and he clutched a finger tightly, gurgling happily. His eyes were blue-green. 

"Eidunn? Come, sweetheart, Freyja needs help."

My mother walked out of the bedroom, damp cloth in hand. Her blue eyes were tired and her black hair hung limply around her face. I could see Loki hungrily memorizing her features.

Young Eidunn gave her a hug and slipped into the bedroom...

And the scene changed.

It was a month later, and Young Eidunn was holding Mother's hand, a closed casket in front of us. Loki and I were standing opposite. The nametag read _Freyja _. There was a sharp intake of breath from Loki as he realized just who was slumbering beneath the wood.__

__The little baby in Young Eidunn's arms began to cry and she put her face down beside his, letting the tears flow. Mother's arms tightened around them both._ _

__There was a flash of blue light and Laufey stood there. I didn't watch as he tore us from Mother. I had relived the scene too many times. Loki, however, was clutching his fists so tight the knuckles were white._ _

__And the scene changed..._ _

__Laufey was standing over me, an ice dagger in his hand. Two jotuns forced open my mouth and I turned my head away as ragged screams came from the Young Eidunn. When they stopped, she was lying on the ground, blood pooling in her mouth. The baby began to cry._ _

__The scene changed._ _

__The sound of battle was around us as Laufey raced into the temple, placing the baby on the alter and raising his dagger. He was blasted out of the way by Odin, and the two fought their way out of the temple and into the fray. Young Eidunn stood up and kissed the baby's cheek. A single tear rolled off her chin and onto his face._ _

__She pulled a hood around her head and slipped from the temple, into Odin's chariot._ _

__I had planned to pull us from the memories there, but when the scene changed, I knew we were in Loki's head now._ _

__Odin, one eye badly wounded, lifted up the crying baby from the alter. He stroked his head with one thumb, gently, and watched as the skin turned pale and his eyes turned back to blue. The crying stopped as the Allfather wrapped the baby in a cloak and hurried from Jotunheim._ _

__The scene changed, but became a mass of flashing memories; Loki as a boy, watching Odin and Thor talk, jealousy on his face; Frigga's kindly eyes as Odin told him he was born to be king; Thor preparing for a coronation as Loki watched on; Loki, in Jotunheim, sparring with a Jotun who grabbed his wrist, and both watched as his skin turned blue; and at last, Loki holding the winter stone, Odin behind him, and the torn, tortured face of the young man as he realized just who his father was. Loki was watching with a face so impassive it chilled me to the bone._ _

__There was a flash of light and we were staring into each other's eyes from each side of the magical barrier._ _

__"Eidunn." Loki breathed, touching the place my tear had fallen all those years ago. "Sister."_ _

__I nodded slowly, and stared into the eyes of my baby brother, grown-up and carrying such an awful burden. I had found him. I was home._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think??? I'm enjoying writing this, the character I've created seems more 3D than most I've come up with, but I struggle to write Loki as he's so layered.


	3. Death is Quick

There was a shout and I leapt to my feet, looking around me in horror. A week had passed since I'd discovered that I was Loki's sister, a week I would remember for the rest of my life. 

Out in the corridor, a large, horned beast had broken from his cell with an explosive weapon. He raced along the corridors, freeing more and more beasts. The guards at the door fell quickly.

The beast freed the man opposite me and turned toward me. He recognised my face, as did many monsters, me being the face of the Jotun's army for a short while. He shook his head and moved on, looking at Loki. 

There was a moment as they retained eye contact, and then the monster moved on. He was almost out of earshot when Loki spoke. "You might take the stairs to the left."

The monster turned, glared at him for a second, and then nodded curtly. My eyes widened and Loki avoided catching my eyes.

"That will take him to Odin!" I signed, and Loki scowled.

"Do you think I want Odin to live? He spent my whole life feeding me lies, and then, when I tried to do the right thing, he imprisoned me here! He hasn't bothered to visit or ask after me, and nor has Thor. Why should they deserve my love?"

I only looked at him. I could tell he wanted to spar with me, but I could sense the underlying guilt about his rash actions and so turned away. The monsters emptied from the room and stampeded out, leaving us in silence. 

*****  
"The Queen is dead."

Loki made no noise, but I could see that his eyes were pools of darkness. The guard bowed his head and hurried from the dungeons.

I watched Loki fearfully. His face was angled away from me but I could see that he was shaking, and eventually, it exploded; his grief and guilt, his rage at himself and the monsters; the unfairness of Frigga's death when he wanted to hurt Odin; his loss of the only person that understood him completely. My heart ached to hold him, to tell him it was okay to cry, that I was there for him, but the barrier was between us. His magic blasted but soon enough he used his hands and feet, smashing up the furniture and kicking the walls. One shoe fell off and he kicked the table with his bare foot, causing blood to begin to run out. Tears cascaded down his cheeks and rough sobs forced themselves out of his throat. 

The barrier flashed as his magic smashed against it. Loki fell to the ground, his head against the wall. There were bloodstains on the white wall and his hands clutched the books Frigga had left him. It was so wrong, seeing Loki like this. I sank down at the magical barrier and rested my head against it gently, not watching him.

The illusion soon took over the cell, making it look like nothing was out of place, and Loki was standing, looking impeccable, at the front of the cell.

"Thor," he said, walking forward slowly as a man entered the room. "After all this time, you have come. Why?" Loki leaned forward, his hands clasped behind his back, and I realized the man was no other than Thor, God of Thunder, Loki's brother. My half-brother.  
"Have you come to gloat, to mock?" Loki asked.

Thor looked at him tiredly.  
"Loki, enough illusions," he said slowly. Loki's eyes widened a little but he inclined his head, letting the illusion melt away, exposing the injured man lying exhausted against the wall.

"Now you see me, brother," Loki said softly.

Thor walked around to the side of the cell so as to be closer to him.

"Did she suffer?"

"I did not come here to share our grief," Thor said. "I came here to offer you the chance of a far richer sacrament."

"Go on," said Loki.

"I know you seek vengeance as much as I do." Thor began, watching Loki. "Help me escape Asgard and I will grant it to you. Vengeance. You want to leave this cell."

Loki moved his head restlessly and a small smile came over his face. 

"You must be truly desperate to come to me for help," he said, his mouth smiling but his eyes cold. "What makes you think you can trust me?"

"I don't," said Thor quickly. He took a breath. "Mother did."

Loki's face grew sad and closed once more. I could tell that had hit home.

"You should know that when we fought in the past, I did so with a glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you. You betray me, and I will kill you."

Loki smiled sadly and then lifted his head.

"When do we start?"

Thor took down the magical barrier and Loki stood, putting on his shoes and cloak and running a hand through his messy hair. I felt a pang of panic. Loki was leaving me? Just like that?

I slammed my fist on the barrier and Loki paused, turning to face me. Our eyes met and I saw that he would not hesitate to leave me. I felt tears come into my eyes.

Loki turned away and exited his cell. Thor, however, stayed still.

"Who is she?"

Loki looked at me, and I knew that tears spilled down my cheeks. Why did I feel so betrayed?

"She's a sorceress," Loki said quickly and moved toward the door. I sank to the floor, my head in my hands. My shoulders shook. I felt eyes watching me and raised my head to meet Thor's eyes, sad and wise. He took down the barrier.

"What is your name, sorceress?"

I signed my name and he understood. Of course, the heir to the throne would have been taught all languages. Then I signed 'I am his sister'.

Thor moved forward.

"Eidunn, Loki's sister?" he asked, shocked. Loki sighed and moved back toward us, holding out his hand and helping me to my feet. I briefly hugged him, letting my tears dry up before turning back to face Thor. As our skin connected we changed, becoming the frost giants, and showing Thor that we were almost identical. I let go and returned to human form.

'Don't betray me, brother' I signed to Loki. 'I cannot let you go just yet.'

Thor laughed. A small smile perched on Loki's lips and I grabbed his hand, holding it tightly in my own, savoring the contact I had been denied for so long.

Thor smiled politely at me.

"I suppose you are coming too, Eidunn," he said and led the way out of the dungeons. Loki tried to loosen his hand from my grasp but I held it firmly, laughing a little with my eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, this is Thor; Dark World. I may have to change it a little in terms of timelines so don't complain about the difference in times.


	4. The Sky

"This is so unlike you brother," Loki said, smiling, as we strode along a dark hall. Thor remained serious. "So clandestine. Are you sure you wouldn't rather just punch your way out?"

"If you keep speaking I just might," Thor said shortly. I stifled a giggle.

Fine. As you wish." said Loki cheerfully. "I'm not even here."

An illusion took over, transforming Loki into a guard, complete with horned helmet and longsword. "Is this better?"

"Better company at least." answered Thor. I continued to hold Loki's hand possessively, my sisterly instincts having kicked in. 

"Still," Loki said musingly, "We could be less conspicuous."

He let the illusion wash away and it began on Thor, turning him into a lovely-looking woman in a warrior's clothing. "Mm, brother. You look ravishing."

Thor paused and looked down at himself.

"It will hurt no less when I kill you in this form," he said.

"Very well." Loki was starting to be annoying. "Perhaps you would prefer one of your new companions given that you seem to like them so much."

The illusion made Thor himself and Loki became a mortal with a stars and stripes uniform. "Oh, this is much better. The costume's a bit much. So tight. But the confidence! I can feel the righteousness surging. Eh, want to have a rousing discussion about truth? Honour? Patriotism? God bless Amer..."

Thor grabbed him and shoved him bodily into a pillar, placing a hand over his mouth. I only just had time to duck away before Loki hit the pillar. He shook free of Thor's grip angrily.

"What?" he said. We all turned and peered into the chamber, where two guards were patrolling. We waited as they marched off down the corridor before talking.

"You could at least furnish me with a weapon," Loki said to Thor. "My dagger, something!"

Thor nodded and pulled something from his waist, pressing it into Loki's hands. 

"At last." Loki smiled. "A little common sense..."

He broke off and raised his wrists in front of him, showing us both the handcuffs which had just latched onto his wrists. He stared at Thor.

Thor smiled. "I thought you liked tricks?" he said, chuckling, and strode off, me laughing silently at Loki's surprised face.

*****  
A young woman hurried up to us, taking Thor's arm. She looked at Loki.

"Are you...?" 

"I'm Loki. You may have heard of..."

She slapped him hard across the face, throwing his head to the side. 

"That was for New York," she said, breathing heavily.

Loki turned and looked at me as I gave a squeak of anger and narrowed my eyes at her. He turned to Thor.

"I like her," he said, chuckling. Thor introduced her as Jane and behind her, the pretty young woman Loki had made Thor impersonate earlier came up to us.

"Let's go," said Thor, taking Jane's hand. Loki and I were about to follow when she unsheathed her sword and in a fluid movement held it to his neck. Loki chuckled.

"It's good to see you too, Sif," he said, turning to look at her.

"If you even think about betraying him..." she trailed off threateningly and stowed her sword in her sheath.

We caught up with Thor and Jane and she smiled at me. She was very pretty.

"Thor, who is this?" she asked, gesturing to me. 

"Eidunn," Loki said quickly. "My sister."

"Your sister?!" Jane said in astonishment. I nodded, smiling slightly, and signed 'I didn't know until earlier this week'. Thor translated and Jane looked at me in wonder.

"Lovely to meet you!" she said, shaking my hand. "And good luck keeping this one in check. He did a lot of bad stuff back on earth."

Loki scowled a little but didn't argue. We reached the outskirts to the throne room and a man with long, plaited black hair and beard narrowed his eyes at Loki. "if you betray him, I will kill you." he muttered threateningly as Thor continued to walk forward. Loki shrugged and I pulled him on, over to Thor and a red-headed man in warrior's armour. The throne room had a large black ship, dotted with dead bodies of guards and monsters. 

We made our way into the throne room but Loki was pulled back by the warrior.

"If you betray him..." he started to say, but Loki interrupted. 

"You'll... kill me? Evidently there will be a line."

The man glowered and pulled away, letting us walk into the throne room. A group of guards rushed at us but the red-headed warrior raced to meet them, weilding his sword and shouting. They all began to attack him, leaving us free to get into the ship. Jane walked around the control panel and stood at the window. I joined her. Thor took the controls and Loki stood behind him.

The ship started up and the engines began to roar. Thor spun the ship around, breaking about six columns in the process.

"I think you missed a column," remarked Loki.

"Shut up!" roared back Thor. 

Jane and I looked at each other with laughter. We watched as the ship zoomed forward and out into the sky.

The sky!

It was blue, such a beautiful deep blue, light yet perfect, stretching as far as the eye can see, and it was bright, the sun was in my eyes. I closed my eyes and let the light wash over me, feeling the warmth on my skin, seeing that blue beyond my eyelids. Jane asked "what is she doing?" and Loki answered.

"She's been in the dungeons for one thousand and fifty years. Let her enjoy the sun."

His voice was warmer than I'd heard before and I opened my eyes, seeing him watch me with a strangely loving look. Jane, in turn, watched him, open-mouthed.

The ship began to dodge spires and buildings and bridges and I admired Asgard, it's golden buildings gleaming in that beautiful sunlight. Beside me, Jane slumped to the floor. I knelt down quickly.

"Oh, dear. Is she dead?" asked Loki carelessly. 

"I'm okay," Jane said faintly. Her eyes were closed. I took her pulse and it was beating strongly. I nodded at Thor and he looked relieved.

Two ships took into the air.

"Now they're following us," Loki said. The ships began spraying us with bullets and I sheltered Jane's head.

"Now they're firing at us!" exclaimed Loki, ducking.

"Yes thank you for the commentary Loki, it's not at all distracting." roared Thor, trying to keep us on course. He sliced through the head of an enormous statue as he entered a tunnel. 

"Well done," said Loki. "You just decapitated your grandfather."

More and more ships were arriving and I looked around in panic. Loki was thinking along the same lines.

"Marvellous. This is a tremendous idea. Let's steal the biggest, most obvious ship in the universe, and escape in that, flying around the city, smashing into everything in sight, it's brilliant Thor, it's truly brilli... aaaaah!"

Thor shoved Loki out of the open panel beside us and he fell from the ship. I jumped up in horror, and peered out, seeing with relief that Loki had landed in a smaller ship just under us. Thor grabbed Jane up, bridal style, and held out an arm to me. I grabbed his shoulder and he hoisted me up so he was holding both of us, somehow. And he jumped.

We fell quite a way and Thor landed on his feet, beside another warrior who was laughing at a disheveled Loki.  
"I see your return to the dungeons has made you no less graceful, Loki!" he said, chuckling. Thor set me down gently and then placed Jane at the end of the ship, tucking a blanket around her.

"You lied to me," said Loki, who looked a little worse for wear from his shock. "I'm impressed."

"Alright Loki, now do as you promised. Take us to your secret pathway." Thor said, one hand on Jane's shoulder. Loki put his cuffed hands on the tiller and I stumbled over, watching him carefully. He laughed as the ship sped up, accelerating toward the mountains. The warrior jumped overboard, landing on the ship that was beginning to fire at us, and saluted Thor respectfully before knocking out both guards and ceasing fire.

Thor and I looked ahead, at the seemingly impenetrable cliff face ahead of us.

"Loki?" asked Thor, looking panicked.

"If it were easy, everyone would do it," said Loki, speeding up still further. I moved in so he could feel me there, just in case he was thinking about crashing us, but he didn't react.

"Are you mad?"

"Possibly," Loki answered, a smile on his face.

The cliff was coming closer and closer, a sheer wall of rock and Thor clutched Jane's shoulder protectively. The ship shot straight into a small crack in the rock and the Bifrost kicked in, rainbow colors whirling around us as we exited Asgard.

Suddenly we were in a very different placed, and the ship bounced over rocks and dirt.

"Tada," said Loki, almost falling over, being unable to stop his fall with his wrists. I grabbed him and held him upright.

The city of ash and black earth was around us. The ship went slowly through the air, and I moved toward the prow. Jane awoke and her eyes were black.

"Jane," Thor said quickly. She looked at the horizon, her hair whipping about her.

"Malekith," she whispered.

We all dismounted and silently walked to the top of the hillock, crouching there. Thor held Jane and Loki had one hand on my wrist. He could tell it wasn't safe for me.

"Ready?" asked Thor. Jane nodded.

"I am," said Loki, giving Thor a meaningful look. The two nodded and let go of us, standing up and showing themselves to the dark elves now walking out toward us.

Loki held out his wrists to Thor and Thor looked at them calculatingly. 

"You still don't trust me, brother," Loki said, laughing a little. Thor smiled sadly.

"Would you?"

He unlocked the cuffs and Loki smiled, looking out at the elves.

"No I wouldn't," he said, silently grabbing a dagger from his belt and in one fluid motion, stabbed Thor. Thor cried out as he fell down the hill, Loki following him. Jane gathered up her skirts and followed them, calling out for Loki to stop. I only watched it in horror.

Thor held out a hand for Mjolnir but Loki cut it off. I screamed alongside jane as Thor curled up, Loki kicking him in the head and chest. Jane fell down beside Thor as he moaned in pain.

"Malekith!" called Loki, grabbing Jane and dragging her toward the elves. I raced down the hill, wishing to form words, but all I could do was scream.

"I am Loki, of Jotunheim, and I come with a gift," called Loki, throwing Jane down at their feet. "I only ask one thing in return. A good seat from which to watch Asgard burn."

The beast beside Malekith whispered something in his ear. He walked over to Thor and kicked him onto his back, so he could see Malekith's eyes. Malekith raised Jane in the air with his magic.

I had to do something. I had to save Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please leave comments and kudos if you liked or didn't like it!


	5. Gone

"Look at me." Malekith said, raising Jane still higher. Red smoke began to come from her, her arms thrown back. I reached Loki but tripped, landing bodily on top of him and knocking him to the ground. One of the beasts sniggered but Malekith did not pause.

"Shut up!" whispered Loki, grabbing me and hauling me upright, one hand over my mouth and the other holding my wrists together behind my back. My heart thudded as the sting of his betrayal made tears well up in my eyes.

Jane seemed to finish with all the red smoke and fell to the ground. Thor cried out.

"Loki! Now!"

Loki pushed me out of the way and flung out a hand, green light coating everything. Thor's hand appeared and I understood it had all been an illusion; part of the plan. Loki, pulling me beside him, flung himself in front of both Jane and I as Mjolnir sent out lightning from Thor's hand to the cloud of smoky magic. For a few seconds, it writhed in the air and then exploded.

The dust slowly receded and Loki got up a little, still between us and the elves, watching the cloud warily. It shrunk back into its old self and straight into Melekith. 

Everyone stared at him, and the monsters began to retreat. Only a few stayed to fight us. Thor attacked them, knocking bodies out of the way, and Loki stayed in front of the unconscious Jane. I had one arm around his chest and I could feel his heart thumping, hard and fast, beneath his green and gold armor.

Something red came flying toward us, a sort of explosive. Loki saw it and flung Jane away from it, pulling me with it, but it sucked both of us up into the air. His eyes were panicked as he grabbed my arm, trying to keep me from getting sucked into it, when something heavy knocked both of us out of it and onto the ground.

Thor!

The brothers exchanged looks and Loki smiled at me.

"You must stay here, Eidunn," he said, brushing my hair out of my eyes. "I have to help Thor."

Thor was being beaten by the biggest monster, and Loki saw it. He gave my hand a squeeze and raced toward his brother, quickly surrounded by elves. He was a good fighter. I could also follow Thor's fight, but it wasn't going so well for him. He was being knocked down repetitively.

There was a crunch behind me and I whirled around to find Jane, looking unsteady on her feet. I grabbed her arm and she leant on me, her breathing ragged. We watched in horror as the monster threw an enormous boulder toward Thor.

He rose slowly, the monster striding toward him. Mjolnir rebounded off the monster's back and into the cliff, wedging itself tightly.

Jane gasped as the monster began to punch Thor over and over again. It stood up, paused for a second, and then...

A blade protruded from its chest. It turned, slowly, and Loki stood there, the sharp blade sticking out of its chest.

It grabbed him and speared him on the blade.

I screamed and Thor screamed, too, the only people left to still care if Loki died, and I raced toward him, leaving Jane to stagger over as best as she could. Loki was thrown back and hit the ground hard, groaning in pain.

"See you in Hel, monster," said Loki, as the monster collapsed.

Thor raced over to Loki and cradled him in his arms. I sank down by his side, tears on my cheeks. One of Loki's hands found mine and I squeezed it, looking in horror at the hole in Loki's chest, dripping blood.

"You fool, you didn't listen," Thor said, his breathing heavy. 

"I know, I'm a fool, a fool..." Loki said it fast and breathlessly, unable to breathe properly. He convulsed and I cupped his cheek.

"No, no," Thor said, as Loki shook.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Loki whispered, his skin going grey.

"It's alright. I'll tell father what you did here today." Thor promised. Loki froze, looking at him almost coldly.

"I didn't do it for him," he whispered, as his eyes closed.

"No- noooooo!" roared Thor, shaking Loki. 

I let a drop of my tears slide off my chin and onto Loki's cheek, as it had all those years ago when I thought he was going to die. Jane stumbled over and sank down behind Thor, watching in sympathy as we wept together. The hand in mine was limp and cold.

He was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will continue into Thor; Ragnarok.


	6. Four Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four years later, and Eidunn has found her way back to earth.

Four years had passed since I had lost my brother. Four years in which I explored the earth, searching for my mother.

When Loki died Thor offered to give me a home in Asgard, and I accepted, but I couldn't spend the rest of my life there with no one who understood sign language, so I found my way to Midgard with Jane. There she showed me around America and had even learned sign language for me. The best present she'd given me, though, was the chance to get a tongue.

I had no idea that humans had come so far. They had the technology to give me a new, fully working tongue, and after a little thought, I had agreed it was worth a try.

It was only in the experimentation stage, and not open to public, so I volunteered myself as a subject and underwent surgery.

The first time, it didn't go well, as it got infected, but the second try, a full year and a half later, it worked. I regained the power of speech.

Jane was a great help at that time. She'd walk around her laboratory with me, pointing at random things and saying their scientific names, allowing me to try to form the words. After two years, I had an American accent and could pronounce everything normally.

I began to search for my mother. Something told me she, too, was immortal, but I could not remember what continent we lived in. Jane eventually decided it was England and we made our way over.

And everything greeted me like an old friend; the sunny fields, the rainy days, the crops and friendly farmers. That was when I found my town and began to ask around.

It had changed, changed so much. Big townhouses had shot up on the roads and the dusty trails were concrete. Cars and trucks hurtled past and the farmers mowed the grass and put their cattle out to pasture. Hills had disappeared and new ones had arrived. There was a Queen on the throne. And a rumour of an old witch who lived in the middle of the fields on a tumble-down cottage.

Jane left me and went to a cafe with Darcy while I took the car and made the half-hour journey out of town. As I pulled up outside the property, I took in the stone cottage and green, rolling hills, now overgrown with crops gone to seed. There were ragged clothes on the washing line.

I walked up the overgrown drive, and stood on the doorstep. I knocked on the door.

"Coming!" called a voice, and the door opened, revealing a woman I'd never met before.

"I'm sorry, I must have the wrong address," I said, taken aback. I turned to go but she grabbed my arm. 

"Terribly sorry, but the old woman is inside. I'm Isla, her cleaner. She's not fit to get the door, you see. Come on in, come in! She'll love having guests. I'll get you a cup of tea."

I entered the old building, noting the absence of a dirt floor, now a nice hardwood, but the layout was the same. Isla gestured toward the bedroom and scurried off to get me a drink. I entered cautiously.

"Who is there?"

I switched on the lamp beside the bed, throwing light onto the walls. Shadows leapt on the roof and I focused on the face of the woman on the bed.

"Mother?" I whispered my heart in my throat, a feeling of sadness and joy overcoming me. Her eyes were the same, sharp and bright as ever, but her hair was snow white and her skin was wrinkled. She looked up into my face and smiled.

"Eidunn. I knew you'd come."

After a long talk, I knew what I had to do. Shooing Isla from the house, I gathered Mother up in my arms and carried her outside, looking upwards.

"Heimdall, take me home."

the Bifrost took both of us up and we sped toward Asgard.

*****  
"Nothing will stop this hammer from my hand, not even your face!"

"This is madness! Stop this at once!"

I watched as Odin and Thor stood, Mjolnir beginning to hurtle back to Thor's hand. What were they doing?

I had gotten Mother to a healer and wanted to share with Thor the good news before returning to Jane, but it seems it would not be so easy. I texted Jane:  
'in Asgard. May not be coming back, Sorry :)'   
and she sent back a thumbs up.

"See you on the other side... brother." Thor hissed into Odin's ear. Suddenly everything seemed too bright. As Mjolnir got closer, the illusion disappeared and my brother flung himself out of the way of Thor's hammer.  
"Alright, I yield!"

His hands above his head, hair messy, Loki faced the crowd and our eyes met. My eyes were cold as I looked at the man I had mourned. I turned away.

A man burst out of the crowd, Skurge, the man who had been on the Bifrost when I returned, knocking me aside. I fell to the ground and welcomed the support. My heart was beating far louder than the man as he shouted.  
"Behold! Thor, Odinson..."  
Loki turned back to him, a sour expression on his face.   
"You had one job. Just the one."

Loki turned back to Thor.  
"You couldn't stay away, could you? Everything was going well, Asgard was prospering, you've ruined everything!"

Thor walked toward Loki, Mjolnir held out in front of him. 

"Where is father?" he asked, as Loki hit the couch and fell back. Mjolnir rested on his chest.

"Ow ow ow! Okay, I know exactly where he is," said Loki quickly.

Thor took Mjolnir back and pulled Loki roughly to his feet. Beckoning to Skurge, Thor began to haul Loki toward the Bifrost. As they passed me Thor looked down and saw me.

"Keep going," Thor said to Skurge and Lok as he knelt down. His rough, large hand took mine.

"Are you alright, Eidunn?" he asked, expecting me to sign back. I nodded and spoke, surprising him.

"I will be once I kill him."

"You can speak!" Thor said, helping me to my feet. "I'm sorry you had to see that. It's not how I would choose to break the news to you. Did you find your mother?"

"Yes," I said and gestured to the infirmary. "She's in there. Don't tell Loki."

"of course," said Thor. "Will you come with us? You have plenty of things to say to him."

I nodded and he hooked an arm around my waist, swinging his hammer and flying toward the Bifrost.

"Eidunn!"

Loki stepped toward me but Thor held him back. I stared defiantly into his eyes.

"You are a horrible, horrible person, Loki," I said clearly, ignoring his gasp at my voice. "Do not expect me to forgive you any time soon. While you have been lying here, enjoying the food and wine and entertainment, I have been getting my life back on track after having _depression _because of you! I accepted that you were dead. I spent sleepless nights crying for you. You are an awful man and I can't believe I wasted my emotions on you."__

__I turned away and faced Skurge, who gave me an unsure smile. I didn't want to see Loki's face. I didn't want to know that I'd made him cry. I wanted to stay angry at him because without anger, I'd fall into his arms and forgive him readily, and that was no good._ _

__I felt a gentle hand on my arm and Thor nodded at me, understanding. He knew why I needed to stay angry._ _

__Skurge activated the Bifrost and all three of us were sucked into the rainbow colours, down to Midgard._ _


	7. Death and Daggers

"I swear I left him right here."

"Right here on the pavement, or here where the building is being demolished? Great planning!"

Thor, Loki and I stood side by side, staring at what used to be the retirement home Loki had sent Odin to. Thor was wearing a grey hoodie and clutching an umbrella. Loki was all in black, in a nice suit. 

"I didn't know this would happen!" protested Loki. "I can't look into the future, I'm not a witch."

"No?" Thor raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down. "Then why'd you dress like one?"

Loki looked down at himself and back at Thor. "Hey!"

"I can't believe you're alive! We saw you die. We mourned you, cried for you..."

"I'm... Honored?" 

Two girls rushed up to us, bumping me out of the way. I stumbled and almost fell over if Loki hadn't caught me. Shaking his arm off, I turned resolutely and got on the other side of Thor once more as he took a selfie with the two girls. 

"Sorry to hear that Jane dumped you." said one of them as they walked off. Thor raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged.

"She dumped me," Thor said sarcastically. "I dumped her! Mutual dumping!"

Loki patted him on the back sarcastically. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing.

Suddenly there was a glowing light beneath Loki's feet. A circle of pulsing, orange and red light made its way outward, growing underneath his feet. Loki looked down in alarm.

"What are you doing?" Thor demanded, staring at it. Loki looked up in panic.

"This isn't me," he said, just as the circle widened and he dropped through the ground. The light disappeared and a piece of paper appeared in his place.

"Loki?" Thor said uncertainly, tapping the piece of paper.

I pushed him aside and knelt down.

"Don't be silly, Loki is in the portal. This has an address on it. Let's go."

*****  
 _177A Bleecker St _read the sign on the building. Thor and I walked up to the door and knocked. As I raised my hand to knock a third time, there was no door there. We were standing in a room, not unlike a museum.__

__"What..." I said uncertainly, looking at Thor. He looked around him and back at me, then took a step forward. Behind us, a voice spoke something. I spun around._ _

__Silhouetted in the light of a window was a man, in what seemed to be a large cape, floating a metre off the ground. He floated forward and Thor held out the umbrella threateningly._ _

__"God of Thunder," he said, his voice deep. "You can put down the umbrella."_ _

__I laughed and lowered Thor's arm, showing him the umbrella stand he evidently hadn't noticed. He slid it in._ _

__Suddenly we were somewhere else entirely, a room with a great tapestry embroidered on it. Thor began to play with a strange, metal decoration on the bench as he spoke._ _

__"So Earth has, uh, wizards now."_ _

__He dropped the piece he'd been holding and the pieces fell apart. I slapped his hand away and began to reassemble it. The strange man gave me a small smile._ _

__"Alright, wizard," said Thor, evidently trying to regain some dignity. "Who are you and why should we care?"_ _

__"My name is Doctor Stephen Strange and I have some questions for you," answered Dr Strange. I stepped away from Thor and looked at him with interest. "Take a seat."_ _

__Suddenly we were both sitting on chairs opposite Dr Strange, holding teacups in our hands. Thor looked at his teacup with disgust._ _

__"I don't drink tea," he said._ _

__"That's rude. Thank you, Dr Strange." I bit in before Thor could make us look even more idiotic. "What questions do you have for us?"_ _

__Thor gave a noise of surprise and I saw that Dr Strange had swapped his teacup for a large glass of beer. I sipped my tea politely._ _

__"I tend to keep track of certain beings and individuals from other realms that may be a threat to this world," Dr Strange said. "Your adopted brother Loki is one of those beings."_ _

__"A worthy conclusion," said Thor, watching with interest as his beer refilled itself. Dr Strange leaned forward._ _

__"Why bring him here?"_ _

__"We're looking for my father," answered Thor, smiling._ _

__"So if I were to tell you where Odin was, your brother would promptly return to Asgard?"_ _

__"Promptly." agreed Thor._ _

__"Great, then I'll help you!" said Dr Strange, sitting back with relief._ _

__"If you knew where Odin was, why didn't you tell us?" I asked suspiciously._ _

__"I have to tell you your father did not want to be disturbed so he chose to remain in exile," said Dr Strange, watching Thor._ _

__"Well you could have at least sent us an electronic letter, it's called an email," said Thor, labouring under the delusion that he knew much about these matters._ _

__"Yeah, well do you have a computer?" asked Dr Strange._ _

__"No, what for?"_ _

__"Anyway." I broke in. "Odin is no longer in exile, so if you could tell us where he is, we can take him home."_ _

__"Right." Dr Strange said. "He's in Norway."_ _

__Suddenly we were in the entrance hall. Thor rolled down the stairs, beer spilling all over him, and I laughed as he got to his feet and shook off the liquor. Dr Strange pulled a strand of his hair and began to shape the light in his hands. It finally took form into a portal through which a long, grassy field was visible._ _

__"Oh, don't forget your umbrella."_ _

__"Right," said Thor, holding out his hand for Mjolnir. There was a smashing sound overhead and I cringed._ _

__"I am so sorry," I muttered to Dr Strange as he looked pained. Mjolnir flew to Thor's hand and he brushed glass shards off it._ _

__"We'll need our brother back," I added quickly, and Dr Strange looked shocked._ _

__"Oh, yeah, right," he said, flustered, and drew a portal up on the ceiling. The sound of screaming echoed down to us and Loki fell out, hitting the floor with a hard thump. Loki flicked his hair off his face._ _

__"I have been falling," he said angrily, "For thirty minutes!"_ _

__Dr Strange looked uncertainly at Loki and then at Thor and I._ _

__"You can handle him from here," he said, shaking our hands. We nodded and thanked him while Loki got to his feet slowly._ _

__"Handle me?" said Loki, regaining his breath and temper. "Who are you?"_ _

__He unsheathed his daggers and Dr Strange's eyes widened. I groaned._ _

__"You think you're some kind of sorcerer? Don't you think for one minute you second rate..." Loki began to advance on the sorcerer._ _

__"Alright, bye-bye." Dr Strange flung light out toward us and we were all standing in Norway. Loki fell over a tuft of grass and onto his face. He made a sound of anger and I rolled my eyes._ _

__"Get up, you idiot," I said as we walked past him. We had both spotted Odin, standing on the edge of the cliff, looking out at the sea. I dropped back and stood beside Loki as he sat up. This was none of my business._ _

__Loki slowly got up, his eyes on Odin, and I gave him a little push. He began to follow Thor over to his father._ _

__"Father?" asked Thor._ _

__I sat on a nearby rock and watched them, not listening. I saw Loki's troubled and sad face and knew they were being told that Odin was going to leave._ _

__"Our sister?" I heard Thor say. "Whatever she is, we can beat her!"_ _

__Why were sisters cropping up everywhere? I had a feeling this one wasn't good news._ _

__Odin faded into gold light and the two brothers stood, walking to the cliff's edge as the light floated out, over the ocean. I could tell from Loki's stance that he was feeling both guilty and sad. We had the same body language._ _

__Thor stood strongly, shoulders back, looking bravely out at the light as Odin passed. I could see his shoulders moving up and down as he breathed and knew that anger was taking over. Thunder crashed overhead and the skies darkened. Loki looked at him._ _

__"Brother..." he said warningly. I began to move toward them, wishing to break up a possible fight, when behind me there came the noise of a portal opening. Greenish light struck me in the back and I fell, watching in horror as the portal grew right where I was lying. I began to crawl away as quickly as possible. Loki saw me and rushed over, pulling me up and helping me out of the way. Then he joined Thor's side._ _

__The illusions faded and the brothers wore their Asgardian attire, Mjolnir looked like a hammer once more. A woman stepped from the portal, clothed in black and green. They all looked at each other._ _

__"So he's gone?" she said, her voice smooth and threatening. I ducked down behind the rock, not wishing to complicate matters."It's a shame. I would have liked to see that."_ _

__"You must be Hela," said Thor. "I'm Thor, Son of Odin."_ _

__"Perhaps we can come to an arrangement," suggested Loki, his gaze narrowed. Hela focused on Loki instead._ _

__"You sound like him," she said. "Kneel."_ _

__"I beg your pardon?" said Loki, angrily. Everyone knew that 'kneel' was Loki's thing. Hela unsheathed one long, black sword._ _

__"Kneel," she said once more. "Before your queen."_ _

__Thor breathed even heavier. "I don't think so," he said, and Mjolnir raced toward her. I thought she must smash, die, but she caught Mjolnir and looked Thor in the eyes as she shattered it._ _

__"It's not possible," said Thor, horrified._ _

__"Darling," she said. "You have no idea what's possible."_ _

__"Bring us back!" called Loki._ _

__"Loki, no!" I screamed, throwing myself out from behind the rock, just as the Bifrost picked us all up._ _

__We were hurtling through the rainbow lights, Hela beneath us. Thor, who was in front, cried out._ _

__"Loki! Eidunn!"_ _

__Loki looked down and saw how close I was to Hela, who had her blade drawn. She focused on me and swiped just as Loki reached me. The impact of him blocking her sword swept us both out of the Bifrost, screaming._ _

__I heard Thor's yell and could feel Loki's arm around me as everything went dark._ _


	8. Sakaar

I blinked dazedly as a face swam into focus; Loki's face. He was bending over me in concern. Beyond him, I could see a strangely faded grey sky.

I sat up and looked around us, then at Loki.

"Where are we?" I asked. Loki offered me his hand and helped me to my feet. There were times like this when I wished I could still use my sorcery. But those powers had been drained when I left Jotunheim. I hated being the one everyone had to protect all the time.

We were standing in what seemed to be an enormous junkyard, sky-high piles of tottering rubbish and bits of furniture scattered around us. A group of people with faceless masks were picking their way toward us.

"Let me handle this," said Loki quietly, taking a few steps toward them.

"Food?" one of them asked. The others all looked at us curiously.

"Food!" roared another, and they all cheered. Loki held out his hands.

"Please, kind, er, civilians, I would speak to your ruler. Take us to your ruler."

"Food!" Agreed another. I pushed Loki aside and stepped forward.

"We're not food, but if you give us to the ruler of this planet, we'll arrange for you to get some, I'm sure. You wouldn't want to eat us anyway. We're jotuns."

I let my face go blue, just for a second, and then switched back. A few of the scrappers made gagging sounds.

"Yeah, see? Come on, take us to the ruler."

"Grandmaster is the ruler." growled one. "You want to meet him?"

I nodded but Loki grabbed my arm. "I know where we are, Eidunn. This is Sakaar. The Grandmaster's a maniac and I..." 

But he didn't finish the sentence because the first scrapper flicked something onto his neck, a sort of disk. He yelped in pain as it pinched into his skin, clinging on tightly. The leader pressed a button on his weapon and lightning shocks went through Loki's body, making him yell and drop to the ground, writhing in pain.

"Stop it!" I yelled, and miraculously, the scrapper did.

"You come with us now," he said and began to walk off. "Your friend dangerous."

Two scrappers lifted up Loki's unconscious body and began to walk off so that I had no choice but to follow.

*****  
"Who is this?"

"Food," said one scrapper. The others made sounds of agreement.

"Oh, never mind. Leave us. Go on, shoo!"

The eccentric old man with blue makeup on and flamboyant clothing stepped forward, off his floating platform, and looked at Loki curiously.

"Who is your handsome friend here?" he asked, blinking at me. I wondered if he was trying to wink with both eyes. I cleared my throat.

"That's Loki, God of Mischief and Lies. Your subjects electrocuted him?"

"Oh yes, that's the obedience disk," said the old man. "I personally didn't want it to be called that, it's so... you know? But everyone started calling it that, so..."

Loki groaned and opened his eyes. I rested a hand on his shoulder and didn't miss the jealousy that flashed in the Grandmaster's eyes.

"I could make you two gladiators, you know," he said conversationally as I helped Loki up. "But you don't look like you'd survive a minute, so I'll offer you a different option. You'll get rooms and a reputation and whatever you want if the God of Handkerchiefs here spends some time with me, alone."

"Mischief," muttered Loki, looking uncomfortable. I didn't miss the hidden message in the old man's words. 

"Or I can just throw you two down to the arena..." added the Grandmaster. Loki put on his best cunning smile and nodded.

"Very well," he said, and made to follow the Grandmaster out of the room. I grabbed his arm.

"Are you insane? Don't do this! We'll figure out something else!"

Loki shook his head. "It will be alright, Eidunn. Don't worry. I'll tolerate it."

I could tell he knew exactly what he was signing up for and released him. I watched him go with a heavy heart.

*****  
There was a knock at the door to my chambers and Loki entered, looking exhausted. He sank down in a chair and I walked over to him.

"Let's never talk of this again," he said sternly, as I opened my mouth. I nodded and fetched a damp cloth, which he took, and brushed his tangled hair with a comb I'd found. He was still breathing heavily.

He went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him, and I grabbed the handsome robes hanging in the cupboard knocked on the door. It opened a crack and Loki took the garments. For some reason, my older-sisterly love had kicked in and I just wanted to protect him. I looked into the cupboard and gagged at the sight of the revealing clothing hanging on the hooks. I grabbed a needle from the draw and began to tear the fabric up. I would have to make my own.

"Eidunn, why is there only one bed?"

I looked up at him, dressed in the beautiful garments, gold cape, and green armor, and thought how grand he looked. And then I blinked and looked around.

"Oh," I said, laughing. "I think he thinks we're together, not siblings."

Loki walked over to the bed and, using his longsword, slit it in half and repaired it by magic, making two odd-looking single beds. He claimed one and sat back, looking out the window while I sewed.

"Loki," I said quietly. "Tell me about New York."

I could tell he had stiffened up, but I knew I was safe asking him. He took a deep breath.

"After I fell from the rainbow bridge, I landed on Ronan's ship. He delivered me to The Other, who spoke for Thanos."

"He tortured me and used the mind stone to keep me there, and then gave me the scepter and the task of destroying the Avengers and taking over the city. I tried to break free, eventually, but I didn't realize I was under the mind stone's power..." Loki trailed off and I saw that he was clenching his fists. I moved over to him and sat next to him on the bed.

"Whenever I had thoughts of claiming the tesseract for my own and leaving, The Other tortured me. I was trapped, and I killed so many people..."

"You said," I broke in, "To Frigga, three days after you arrived in the dungeons, that you did not regret the lives you took."

"Of course I did!" Loki snapped, his fists clenching so tightly I feared they would break. "I was angry at myself for letting them get to me! I wanted to prove that I was stronger than father, that I was Thor's equal, and ended up being a mere slave to the monster I hated! I didn't know... what to do..."

He trailed off, and his voice was trembling. He turned his head away and I knew he wanted to hide his emotions.

I listened to him breathe, his face still turned away, and slowly put out a hand, unsure if it was alright for me to touch him. I laid it down on his closed fist and felt him flinch, and then relax.

No words were exchanged but none needed to be. We sat there for a little while until Loki's breathing calmed and his hands relaxed in mine, as the light grew dim outside our room and we prepared to go to sleep.


	9. Siblings

"Loki! Eidunn!"  
We both looked over and saw Thor in an odd chair with an obedience disk on his neck. He gestured for us to come over and we tried to excuse ourselves from the conversations, placing our flutes of wine on a platter and hurrying over. The Grandmaster was standing there, playing disco music.

"Sh, sh!" said Loki, standing in front of him. "You're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive!" snapped Thor. 

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean what am I doing here, I'm stuck in this stupid chair, where's your chair?"

"I didn't get a chair."

"Get me out of this one!"

"I can't."

"What are we whispering about?" asked the Grandmaster. Loki jumped and Thor groaned. "Time works real different around these parts. On any other world, I'd be like, uh, millions of years old, but here on Sakaar..."

he trailed off and did the weird blinking-with-both-eyes-thing at Loki, who looked extremely uncomfortable. 

"So how do you two know each other?"

"I've never met this man in my life," said Loki, laughing. I elbowed him and he elbowed me back. Thor glowered.

"He's my brother," he said. Loki shrugged.

"Adopted," said Loki.

"Is he any kind of a fighter?" asked the Grandmaster to Loki and I. Thor laughed.

"Take this thing out of my neck and I'll show you!" he said, trying to free his arms.

The grandmaster laughed and muttered something indistinguishable before speaking. "Here's the deal. You wanna get back to As-berg, place..."  
"Asgard," growled Thor.  
"You defeat our champion in the arena. What do you think?"

"Fine, then point me in the direction of whoever's ass I have to kick," growled Thor.

The Grandmaster picked up a baton for the chair and made the chair move forward. I touched Thor's arm lightly as he passed and gave him a sympathetic look. As Thor and his host made their way out of sight, I spun around and shoved Loki backwards. He stumbled and I grabbed his arm and dragged him off toward our chambers.

"Where are we going, exactly?"

"Shut up!"

I pushed him into a deserted niche and pushed him up against the wall angrily.

"Your brother is in danger and you think now is the time for jokes? Lies? Hela is in Asgard and Thor may be our only way out. We need to help him!"

Loki pushed me off him and looked up and down the corridor.

"Eidunn, Hela is in Asgard. We've lost. There is no reason for us to go back! Just think, we could live here, permanently. People don't know about our pasts. We could be respected civilians! Thor is on a suicide mission. I don't want to die."

"Loki," I growled, angrier than ever. "You are going to see your brother right now and talk with him. Then we'll discuss your crazy ideas."

Loki sighed. "Fine. Let's go back to the room so I can visit him."

*****  
Loki sat, perfectly still, on the bed, his eyes closed. I knew that somewhere he was talking to Thor. I watched him as he sat, his face relaxed, and for a moment I could almost see the little baby I'd thought had died so many years ago. His eyes were the same, although they held so much more anger and sadness then they had. I felt a pang of regret for what my brother had to go through.

Loki opened his eyes and caught me staring at him. "What?" he asked, surprised. I shook my head and smiled, asking what Thor had said.

"He didn't speak, just threw stones at my head," answered Loki tiredly. 

"What did you say?" I demanded, standing in front of him. He rolled his eyes.

"I said he could join me at the Grandmaster's side."

"No!" I said, frustrated. "Loki, Asgard is in danger. Our Mother is in danger!"

"What?" asked Loki, his voice stronger and angrier. "Why would mother still be alive?"

I dropped down beside him, looking at my hands in my lap. "She's alive, Loki. I meant to tell you when I stopped being angry with you, but with everything that's happened since..."

"Why would you keep this from me?!" cried Loki, standing up and pacing the floor. "I thought you trusted me. I trusted you. Why would you keep something like this from me?"

"Loki." I said, sternly. "Think. You faked your own death and didn't tell me and wouldn't have told me unless Thor intervened. What reason have I to trust you? I am sorry I did not tell you earlier. Mother is old. I brought her to the healer's room the day Thor found you out."

Loki sank down opposite me on the bed, his head in his hands. I could tell I had just thrown a massive spanner in the works. "Loki, please. Help Thor. I am going to."

"She is old, you say?"

I got up and left, anger growing once more. If he was having thoughts about leaving Mother, I couldn't have a civil conversation with him. I almost walked straight into the Grandmaster.

"Woah, Woah, Woah, what's the rush?" he laughed. "The games are about to start. Where's your boyfriend?"

"He's my brother," I said tiredly. The Grandmaster raised an eyebrow. 

"Whatever he is, he should be down here. I'll see you in the top box soon, hey? Yeah?"

I nodded and changed direction, heading toward the Arena. Loki would join me.


	10. The Arena

"Woah, look at you all. What a game, what a night."

The Grandmaster's hologram flickered as the noise of the crowd grew louder. I sat down on the couch, followed by Loki, being careful not to touch him, still simmering from our argument before.

"Without further ado, I give you... He's got a few tricks up his sleeve, let's see this guy... Lord of Thunder!"

Loki laughed as Thor came out, his blonde hair cropped close to his head and warpaint on his skin. He clutched a double-ended battleax and had his helmet under his arm. There were boos from the crowd.

I watched Thor, not hearing the introduction to the champion until the gate began to open. Before it was fully open a large, monstrous green beast tore its way out, roaring. The crowd cheered.

"I give you... The mighty Hulk!"

Loki had frozen beside me. He stood up and muttered "I have to get off this planet." before walking around the couch and almost straight into the Grandmaster. 

"Hey, where are you going?" he laughed. Loki's eyes had widened in almost fear as he accidentally touched him. "The game's about to start, come and sit down!"

Loki backed up and sat quickly, his face worried.

"What is it?" I hissed to him, but he only shook his head. Outside, Thor had given a 'yes!' of happiness, I couldn't tell why.

"We know each other!" yelled Thor to the Grandmaster. "He's a friend from work!"

The Grandmaster looked confused and turned to Loki, who leaned forward, his skin pale. Thor was speaking to the Hulk.

"How are you?" It's been so long, and Banner, Loki's alive! He's up there, look!" Thor pointed at us, drawing the attention of the whole crowd. Loki shrunk back against the couch as if trying to disappear. "I never thought I'd say this, Banner, but I'm happy to see you."

The Hulk hefted his weapon and roared. I was fairly sure he hadn't understood a word of what Thor said until he spoke. "No Banner. Only Hulk." And he charged.

The fight wasn't long, but as the Hulk punched Thor, his eyes grew bright, too bright. Lightning crackled in his hands as he went supernova, bringing the Hulk crashing to the ground. The Hulk stared at Thor for a second before picking him up by the feet and smashing him over and over.

"Yes!" bellowed Loki, springing to his feet. "That's how it feels!"

"Sorry," he added to the Grandmaster, who was looking at him as though fearing for his sanity. "I'm just a big fan of the sport."

Thor suddenly seemed to be winning. The Grandmaster leaned forward, holding out the baton, and suddenly Thor fell to the ground as the Hulk jumped on him. He was either dead or unconscious.

Both Loki and I stared at the Grandmaster as Thor was carried out, shocked. He smiled at us.

"Will you join me for dinner, after that marvelous game?"

I shook my head and looked meaningfully at Loki, who made an excuse and left as quickly as possible. I gave the Grandmaster a smile and followed my brother.

*****  
"You're surely not thinking of staying?!"

"I could do well here. It's safe from all other problems."

"Loki, Thor might be dead and you're acting like a child. There is _no other option _! We must go."__

__"I'll see."_ _

__"Why were you so scared of the beast?"_ _

__Loki sat down on one of our couches and took off his cloak and cape, placing them beside him so that he was wearing his jersey and breeches, and unbuttoned his top. I sucked in a breath. There, tracing from armpit to groin, was a large white scar, evidently just healed. I reached out and traced the line._ _

__"How?" I asked, looking up into his blue eyes. I pulled away and he buttoned up his top again._ _

__"I got Hulk smashed the way Thor did today, but I was in a building. As I smashed through the floor I impaled myself on a long piece of the metal foundation, and this is what I get for my troubles." Loki motioned to the scar. "No one knew of it and when I was taken home I was chained around the waist, and muzzled. I could not say that they were re-opening the wound."_ _

__I felt a sick feeling in my stomach as I thought of what he'd gone through. I imagined the blood, welling up under his garments, and his futile attempts to say that he was being sliced open once more, trapped..._ _

__As he stood up to put his cloak back on, I took his arms and motioned for him to hug me. He allowed me to hug him stiffly, unused to the affection, before slowly and gently placing his arms around my back._ _

__"I'm sorry, brother," I whispered. "You do not deserve this pain."_ _

__His head dropped to rest on my shoulder, and I was glad I was able to help him in this small way. Being smaller and having no powers currently, I often felt that my role as big sister wasn't obvious and Loki did not show his emotions. I loved my brother so much but could not tell if he loved me. Perhaps he'd never say._ _

__"I love you," I said softly, as we broke apart. I walked into the bathroom and shut the door with a smile on my face, knowing Loki needed to process what I'd just told him._ _

__*****  
"Loki, Eidunn, the Grandmaster urgently requests your presence."_ _

__The guard bowed and stood back to let us pass._ _

__A scrapper stood before the Grandmaster, her hair tied back and odd marks on her face. She was wearing armor and was quite short, but radiated an air of power._ _

__"I woke up this morning thinking about a public execution," said the Grandmaster nonchalantly, floating toward us. "I did, you know, I really did... But I need someone to blame. Your brother has taken my champion and escaped with him. I need him back."_ _

__"Give me twelve hours and I will get them back for you," said Loki quickly. He wasn't wearing his cape still. The woman beside us downed a bottle of who knows what._ _

__"I could do it in two," she said, no emotion in her voice. Loki looked at her and she stared lazily back as if challenging him._ _

__"I could do it in one," amended Loki._ _

__The two stared at each other._ _

__"Oh, but I like this," chuckled the Grandmaster, rubbing his hands together. "This little 'I can do it better' thing you got going. What about you, Eidunn?"_ _

__"I'm with Loki," I said quickly, not wishing to get on the woman's bad side._ _

__"Okay, whoever can get them first will be rewarded," promise the Grandmaster. "Shoo." and he waved his hand at us, signaling for us to leave._ _


	11. The Champion

As we walked from the room, I felt a frisson between us and the woman, and dove out of the way just in time. Loki and the scrapper were walking quickly, and I could feel the beginnings of combat brewing.

"What have you done," asked Loki.

"I don't answer to you, Lackey." said the woman. Loki dove at her and grabbed her wrist.

"It's Loki. And you will answer to the Grandmaster."

She reacted so quickly I thought Loki would die on the spot, but he was just as quick. They squared off with their fists, ending in Loki getting punched in the face.

"Stop, stop!" I yelled, trying to pull Loki away, but he shook me off. The woman kicked out and I went flying across the room, hitting the wall with my head. The room swam before my eyes.

"Eidunn!" yelled Loki, and pulled out a dagger, mirrored by the scrapper.

"Why would you help my brother escape with that green thing?" asked Loki. The woman pulled her dagger out.

"I don't help anyone," she said slowly.

The two kicked into action, whirling and slicing and somehow not getting hurt. They paused as Loki pulled up her glove and saw the strange marks there.

"You're a Valkyrie?" he asked, surprised. She ripped free and he was flung against the wall. "I thought you all died gruesome deaths."

"Choose your next words wisely," she threatened, her dagger at his chest, her foot against him. 

"I'm terribly sorry. It must be a very painful memory," said Loki, and grabbed her head. For a split second she closed her eyes, and I knew Loki was making her relive the moment, and I felt horror at what she must be seeing. Loki kicked her off him and she hit the floor, breathing heavily. She spun around and knocked him over, straddling him with her dagger at his throat. Her fist came down and punched him in the face.

She stood up and looked at me.

"Anything else?" she asked sarcastically, still breathing fast.

"I am sorry, for what my brother did to you. He shouldn't have done that."

She grunted and hauled me to my feet, putting my wrists into handcuffs and throwing Loki over her shoulder. Then I followed her.

*****  
The door slid up, revealing Valkyrie, Thor, and a man I didn't know.

"Surprise," said Loki.

Valkyrie strode in, not giving him a second glance, but Thor entered warily. He picked up a can and threw it at Loki's head.

"Ow." said Loki.

We were chained back to back with each other. Loki had spent most of the time muttering about Valkyrie and his stupid brother and I had sat in silence.

The man entered the room, adjusting his pants awkwardly.

"Hello, Bruce." 

"So," Bruce said. "Last time I saw you, you were trying to kill everybody. Where are you at these days?"

Loki stared at him. "It varies from moment to moment." 

Thor didn't look at me. I knew he was angry that I'd stayed with Loki, and frankly, I deserved it. Once I got my powers back I could help as much as possible.

Valkyrie was telling Thor about their ways out. "Refuel on Xander and we can be back in... eighteen months?"

"Nope," Thor said, pointing to the enormous wormhole in the sky. "We are going through the big one."

"The devils anus?"

Bruce choked. "The anus? Wait wait wait, whose anus?"

"For the record, I didn't know it was called that when I picked it." amended Thor. 

"That looks like a collapsing neutron star inside of an Einstein rosen bridge!" said Bruce excitedly. He must be a scientist of some sort. I felt Loki move restlessly against the chains as they discussed what ships they could use.

"I don't mean to impose," cut in Loki. Valkyrie flung her bottle at his head, missing Loki and hitting me full in the face. I squeaked but didn't cry out. "But, ah, the Grandmaster has a great many ships. I may stolen the access codes to his security system."

"And suddenly you're overcome with an urge to do the right thing."

"Heavens, no." Loki said. When he spoke he pulled forward on the chains, which made me bend backward. I dug him in the ribs with my elbow. "I've run out of favor with the Grandmaster. And in exchange for access codes to a ship, I'm asking for safe passage... Through the anus."

"You're telling us you can get us through the garage without setting off any alarms?" asked Thor, suspicious. I was too. Loki only had to smile at the Grandmaster to regain favor, and I knew he didn't want to leave Sakaar. What was he playing at?"

"Yes, brother, I can."

"Okay, can I just..." Bruce motioned for the three of them to speak together. "A quick FYI? I was just talking to him a couple of minutes ago and he was ready to kill any of us."

"He did try to kill me." said Valkyrie.

"Yes, me too, on many occasions," added Thor. "There was this one time, when we were kids, he transformed himself into a snake, and he knows I love snakes. So I went to pick it up to admire it, and he transformed back into himself and was like 'mwah' it's me, and he stabbed me." they all stared at Loki in horror, who turned away, trying not to laugh. "We were... eight... at the time."

I giggled.

"If we're boosting a ship, we're gonna need to draw guards away from the palace."

"Why not set the beast loose?"

"Shut up." snapped Thor. Loki shrugged.

"You guys have a beast?" asked Valkyrie, grinning. Thor shook his head.

"No, there's no beast. He's just being stupid."

And suddenly I knew who Bruce was; the champion, Hulk. I gasped and Loki laughed quietly behind me. 

"We're going to start a revolution."

"Revolution?"

"I'll explain later."

"Who is this guy again?"

"I'll explain later."

*****  
"We need to talk."

"I quite agree. Open communication was never our family's forte."

We were standing at the doors to the garage, Loki adjusting the dials on the code lock. Thor watched his brother with his arms crossed.

"I've had quite the revelation since we last spoke," said Thor, as they pulled out the guns and began shooting at the guards. We crossed the room, me keeping low, weaponless, and over to the next combination lock. Loki opened it.

"We might as well be strangers now," he said as he entered the numbers. "Two sons of the crown."

the door opened and a guard walked out. Loki backed away and, as the guard entered the room, Thor threw him at the ceiling. We continued as if nothing had happened. 

We entered a glass elevator. Loki and Thor stood facing the doors. I stood beside the control panel, out of everyone's way.

"Loki, I thought the world of you."

Loki and I stared at Thor, surprised at his honesty.

"I thought we were going to fight side by side forever, but let's be honest, our paths diverged a long time ago."

I could read Loki so well now, although he was not an open book, and could see the longing he was hiding from Thor. He took a breath and nodded.

"Well, it's probably for the best that we never see each other again."

"That's what you always wanted," said Thor, patting Loki on the back. Loki was trying so hard not to show any trace of emotion that you could see his struggles; he was biting his lip. There was a pause in which Thor looked happy and Loki looked uncomfortable. I nodded to Thor, who smiled a little in return. The frost was thawing. 

Hey, let's do get help."

"What?"

"Get help."

Loki shook his head firmly. "No."

"Come on, you love it," said Thor.

"I hate it."

"It's great, works every time."

"It's humiliating!"

"Do you have a better plan?"

"No!"

"We're doing it."

"We are not doing get help."

*****  
The elevator dinged and the three of us exited, Loki draped over Thor's arm as if he was injured.

"Get help! Please, my brother is dying! Help him!"

Thor threw Loki at the surprised guards, knocking them all senseless. Loki got gingerly to his feet.

"Ah, classic." chuckled Thor, walking toward the ship. Loki brushed himself off.

"I still hate it," said Loki, adjusting his collar. "It's humiliating."

"Not for me it isn't." chuckled Thor. I laughed too.

As we walked, I saw Loki duplicate and walk off toward the control panel. I tapped Thor and he nodded, pretending he hadn't seen.

"Though I feel it won't make much of a difference," he said. Thor sighed and turned towards the real Loki. I moved forward but didn't join him, not wishing to go to the wrong side.

"I know I've betrayed you many times before but this time it's truly nothing personal," he said, clearly avoiding my accusing gaze. Thor smiled. "Their award for your capture will set me up nicely."

"Never one for sentiment, were you," said Thor, understanding. Loki smiled cunningly.

"Easier to let it burn," said Loki.

"I agree," Thor said, and raised the remote for the obedience disk. Loki looked in alarm at his shoulder where Thor had planted the disk before Thor clicked the button. Loki froze, and then violent spasms racked his body, causing him to fall over. I didn't react. 

"Yeah, brother, you're becoming predictable." said Thor, bending over him. I walked to his other side as he continued to thrash around. "I trust you, you betray me, round and round in circles we go. You see Loki, life is about growth, about change, but you just wanna stay the same! I guess what I'm trying to say is that you'll always be the God of Mischief, but you could be more."

He straightened up and threw the remote away, letting it slide along the floor.

"I'll leave this over here for you," he said, smiling. "Eidunn, stay or come. I do not blame you if you wish to stay with Loki. I could come back once Asgard is safe once more."

I nodded and shook his hand. "I do not wish to stay here forever, Thor. Make sure Mother is safe, please. I cannot fight until my powers return."

Thor nodded and strode off. I sat down beside Loki and watched him start up the spaceship and take off, flying away into the city.


	12. Savior

"Eidunn... Please."

"Not yet, Loki."

I sat beside him as he writhed. I could not take the electricity off him until Thor was safely out of the city.

There had been announcements over the speakers from the Grandmaster, urging civilians to take to the sky and hunt them down. Loki had continued to shudder and writhe as waves of electricity coursed through his body but did not black out.

Finally, there was a groan over the speakers.

"Sakaarians, you let them slip through your fingers! They have escaped."

I went to turn off the electricity but the remote was gone. In it's place was a giant man made all from rock.

He switched off the remote and Loki groaned, sitting up.

"Ah! Thank you." he puffed, trying to get up. I rushed over and went to help him but he pushed me away. 

"Hey man! I'm Korg. We're about to jump on that ginormous spaceship and fly away. Wanna come?" asked the rock man. 

"Well, you do seem like you're in desperate need of leadership," said Loki. 

"Why thank you!" said Korg, beckoning us. Loki strode ahead and into the ship, followed by Korg and his team. I followed behind.

*****  
Asgard was under attack. The people were all caught in the middle of the bridge, an army behind and a wolf in front. As I watched the Hulk and the wolf fell from the bridge, tearing at each other. Korg jumped out with Meik and landed on the bridge, saving Heimdall. 

Dust blew over everyone as our spaceship landed. Loki stood on the raised landing strip, his arms out, letting an illusion take over; a gold and green armoured suit and cape, with a horned helmet atop his head.

"Your savior is here!" he cried, as the people began to board. "Did you miss me?"

He stepped off the ship and I followed, a sharp sword in hand. He strode over to Heimdall.

"Loki. I saw you coming," said Heimdall, walking toward us.

"Of course you did."

Loki joined the line, Korg, Valkyrie, Heimdall and I, in a V shape formation, weapons out. The robot creatures raced toward us and we fought. I was beside Loki, slicing and stabbing, doing a good job for someone who never learned how to use a sword. I got a cut across my hip and cried out.

"Eidunn!" cried Loki, as a staggering blow to my head brought me to my knees. I could see flashes of memory; as the battle whirled around me. In slow motion, I saw Loki; face contorted as he tried to cut a path to get to me; the monster above my head, his sword coming down slowly. I felt the old spark inside me.

And my magic exploded outwards, freed from the prison it had lived in for so long, just as Thor's did, too. Lightning and sorcery combined, blasting monsters off the bridge, sending both Thor and I flying to the middle of the bridge, our eyes glowing. Thor's eyes were blue from the lightning, glowing like torches, and mine were green, sparks of magic floating off my skin. We silently acknowledged each other as the monsters recovered and began to charge.

It was uphill from there; monsters being torn apart by our skill. I saw glimpses of Loki, a smile on his face as he saw us go supernova, and I could feel the energy and strength surging deep within me, blasting outward, again and again, bringing monsters to their knees and stopping the blades. I lifted into the air as if I had wings; wings of green sorcery. And I knew, in that moment, I was home. 

Hela appeared on the bridge, her teeth bared. Thor fought below and I from above, saving his life more than once, keeping Hela from reaching him. My shield floated around me and flashed as she sent blades flying toward me, and I twirled and leaped above them, dodging her blows, killing monsters. 

"Go! Go now!" Thor roared at the spaceship, and Korg and Loki raced inside, closing the doors. It began to move. I could see that Hela saw them, and enormous stone blades pierced the sides of the ship and held it in place. Before she could do more damage I blasted her and she blocked just in time.

"Loki! Go!" 

Loki leapt from the rising ship, and I grabbed him with my magic and sent him flying toward the castle. I gave Thor a nod and he turned to help Valkyrie, who was being beaten by Hela.

We fought her, but she was too strong.

Then the ship was off, and Skurge killed, and Serter erupted from the palace. Ragnarok had begun.

"Loki!" I screamed, my eyesight improved by my powers. I saw him, flying through the air, holding a blue stone, and then he vanished. 

Hulk and Hela were now fighting Serter, and I used my remaining strength to tear the green beast from Serter's skull and beside us. He was singed but seemed to be in good shape.

"No smash?" he asked, shocked. I nodded and focused upon the fight as Serter gave a great stroke and dove his sword into Hela. As the explosion moved outwards, I fell down, my energy used up, and Hulk caught me. He grabbed Valkyrie and Thor and jumped at the spaceship, depositing us inside. I saw the explosion blow up Asgard into fragments.

And everything went black.


	13. Safe

I was laying on a couch in a quiet, darkened room. Thor was over the other side, choosing an eyepatch. He turned when he saw I was awake.

"Eidunn."

I smiled and lifted my head a little, noticing the headache and throbbing cut in my waist. 

"Did we win?" I asked, and Thor chuckled.

"Yes, we won."

I smiled and lay back, but my thoughts were with my brother. Thor moved over to the mirror and I watched his reflection. As the eyepatch fell into place, Thor's gaze shifted as he caught sight of something in the mirror.

"It suits you."

Thor turned, and I lifted my head at the sound of Loki's voice. He stood there, smiling slightly.

"Loki," I whispered, and he smiled at me.

"Well, maybe you're not so bad after all brother," said Thor. Loki cocked his head, his black curls falling across his face a little.

"Maybe not." he agreed.

"Thank you," said Thor, playing with a decoration from the bench. "If you were here I might even give you a hug."

He threw the decoration at Loki, who caught it. There was a pause as we all stared at each other.

"I'm here," said Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's all I will write for now, but it's not finished. I will add a part in Infinity war and Endgame, once I watch it. No spoilers please!


	14. PART 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is Part 2 of The Dark World: beginning from Infinity war

"What is that?" gasped Thor.

The ship was enormous, eerie and threatening. A burst of gunfire shook the ship.

"They're attacking!" I called, racing out to the hallway. "Heimdall? Send a distress signal! We can't take them on ourselves!"

Heimdall was busy with the Bifrost, evacuating everyone he could. The ship sent pods to join onto our ship. Valkyrie levelled her swords.

"Valkyrie," Thor said, pushing her toward Heimdall. "This is not your fight. Take Korg and leave."

Valkyrie opened her mouth to argue but spotted the look on Thor's face and nodded. A moment later, Korg, Meik, and Valkyrie vanished.

I was shocked at Thor's actions, sending away his best fighter, but Thor's expression was grave. "Eidunn," he said, taking my arm. "Loki needs you."

I looked into the room I'd just evacuated and saw Loki, still staring at the ship as though hypnotised. I hurried to his side and lightly touched his arm.

"Loki?" I asked quietly, as the ship shook around us. "Who are they?"

"They have come for me." Loki's voice was no longer confident. His hands were shaking as they clutched the windowsill. As if on an impulse, Loki turned and grabbed my face between his hands, looking earnestly into my eyes. 

"No matter what happens..." he began, but I interrupted.

"Loki, we're not having this conversation. No one is going to die," I said, and there was fear in my voice. My heart was thumping fast because I knew who was on the ship. A burst of light knocked us both against the wall and there were screams behind us.

"Eidunn!" Loki called, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the bullets. "Please, whatever happens, promise that you will do as I say. If that means leaving me, you will."

I stared into my brother's eyes and shook my head. "No, Loki. I must fight with you. I am powerful."

"They are more powerful than even Hela. Please, Eidunn, I have my own plans now. I cannot let you be hurt."

Someone had boarded the ship; there were screams and thuds and the sounds of metal on metal. Thor bellowed somewhere deep in the ship. I continued to stare into Loki's eyes.

"Fine," I said finally, and rose. "Let's fight."

*****  
Half of Asgard had been evacuated when Heimdall was struck. He collapsed onto someone else's body and did not move. I could see the death and destruction all around us. How could this have happened?

A man was speaking now, and there was silence. Almost everyone was dead. I lay where Loki had instructed me, pretending to be dead, biding my time. 

"...Rejoice, for you have been saved by the mad titan..."

There was a yell as Thor was chained and muzzled. A titan wearing a golden gauntlet moved toward him and stroked his head.

"The tesseract or your brother's life. I assume you have a preference?"

I heard Loki's breathing, fast and anxious. The little of his face that I could see was dirty and his eyes were tormented.

"Oh, I have a preference," Loki said confidently. "Kill away."

I bit my lip as the Titan pressed his gauntlet to Thor's head, seemingly burning his skull with the bright stones inlaid in the hand. Loki was getting more and more anxious and Thor was in pain. 

_Please, Loki, tell him to stop, _I found myself thinking. As if he'd read my mind, Loki yelled "Alright, stop!" and held up his hand. The tesseract appeared, glowing blue, and he held it out to the Titan.__

__"Loki?"_ _

__The Titan took the tesseract and crushed the glass. Loki disappeared into the shadows._ _

__As the stone was placed in the gauntlet, the Titan spoke._ _

__"There are two more stones on earth. Find them. I'll deal with this one," and he touched Thor's cheek._ _

__"Yes, Thanos."_ _

__"If I might interject?"_ _

__I almost got up and held him back, but thought the better of it. My brother stepped through the bodies toward Thanos._ _

__"If you're going to earth, you might need a guide," he said. Thanos looked at him like one might look at an interesting science project. "I do have a bit of experience in that arena."_ _

__"Would you consider failure experience?" Thanos asked, and I knew who he was; the one who had tortured and brainwashed Loki into trying to take over the world. I felt a pang of anger._ _

__"I consider experience experience." Loki corrected him. His breathing was labored but I knew the titan would not pick that up. "Almighty Thanos, I, Loki, Prince of Asgard, the rightful king of Jotunheim, Odinson..." Loki paused in his approach and looked Thor in the eye. "God of mischief, do hereby pledge to you..." a dagger appeared in his hand, and I got up and hid behind the pillar, ready to strike... "My... undying fidelity."_ _

__He made the strike, and Thanos' gauntlet glowed blue, freezing his arm where he stood. He stared at Thanos in panic._ _

__"Undying?" Thanos mused, throwing Loki's arm down. "You should choose your words more carefully."_ _

__His gauntlet closed around Loki's neck and lifted him into the air. He thrashed and made choking sounds. I threw myself out from behind the pillar and screamed. "let him go!"_ _

__Thanos looked at me and Loki's bloodshot eyes found mine; sadness and fear mirrored in my own. I threw my magic at Thanos but the gauntlet knocked it back and it hit me. I collapsed, but tried to crawl toward them, hearing Loki's choking and Thanos watched me without emotion._ _

__"You... will never be... a god," choked Loki, and there was an awful snap. I froze on the ground as his body went limp. A scream of horror and pain left me, my heart in my mouth, tears threatening to rain down my cheeks, as Thanos kicked me aside. I lay there, too horrified to move, feeling as if my world had been shattered into pieces._ _

__Thanos threw Loki's body down at Thor's feet._ _

__"No resurrections this time," he said, as Thor roared into the muzzle. As Thanos moved away, I crawled toward Loki and grabbed his face, feeling for a pulse that I knew would not be there. Thanos and his minions disappeared._ _

__The metal restraining Thor broke and he fell to the ground beside his brother, blood pouring from his mouth. One hand rested on his brother's chest and another grabbed my arm._ _

__"Loki.." he gasped out, and let the tears spill, resting his head on his brother's chest. I lay down beside Loki, too exhausted to remain upright, feeling drained. And then the tears came._ _


	15. A Wizard and a Man of Iron

Heimdall somehow got the Bifrost to pick me up, and the Hulk, but Thor remained. With his dying breath, Heimdall saved two lives. I touched Thor's cheek as the Bifrost sent me hurtling through space, the unconscious Hulk beside me. We landed in a building and smashed through the floor, ending up under the stairs. Beside me, Hulk turned back into Bruce Banner. He groaned and I buried my head in my arms.

"Who the hell are you?" asked a voice and I looked up, seeing a wizard looking down at me. One of the stones was hanging around his neck. I accepted his hand up and Bruce followed.

"What happened? Where have you come from?" asked the shorter man. I opened my mouth and found that words couldn't come out. Instead, I turned and threw my arms around Bruce's neck. he hugged me back and for a moment we stood there, the only people who really understood what we were going through, and I wiped a tear away and turned back to the wizard.

"I'm Bruce Banner," croaked Bruce, keeping an arm on my shoulder. "And we need to speak to Tony, now."

*****  
As Dr. Strange and Tony stepped through the portal, Bruce and Tony caught each other's eye. 

"Hey, buddy, are you okay?" asked Tony, seeing Bruce about to break into tears again. Wordlessly, Bruce stumbled forward and hugged his old friend. I was leaning against a metallic pot, feeling drained and numb. 

"Thanos," croaked Bruce, pulling away. "He's a plague, he goes to planets and wipes out half the population, he sent Loki! The New York attack, that was him!"

The name was almost too painful to hear. I felt as if someone had clawed their way into my gut and pulled out a chunk, a piece of vital organ that was now gone. I stumbled and Dr. Strange's cape caught me and helped me into a couch.

"Who's this?" asked Tony, gesturing to me. Bruce answered for me. 

"She's Loki's brother and Thor's half-brother. She just watched Loki die."

Tony watched me for a moment, then turned to Dr. Strange. Their conversation moved in and out of focus, something to do with six infinity stones, an infinity gauntlet and the Avengers. What did it matter? My world was cold. There was nothing left for me anyway. My eyes closed and I burrowed my face into my arms, welcoming the cool darkness. A face swam in front of my eyes; his face, He smiled sadly. _I didn't want you to be hurt, Eidunn. The sun will shine on us again. ___

__There was a muffled sound of booming and screams and my head jerked up, everyone looking toward the door. Tony rose and hurried to the front door. Bruce and I followed close behind._ _

__A spaceship had landed a block away, and I knew who they had come for. Tony walked toward it, putting on a pair of glasses. I summoned armour and as I walked the illusion took over me. Bruce stared in amazement as I rose into the air, a metre off the ground, and moved forward so I was beside Tony. He looked at where my face should be and instead saw my feet._ _

__"It's Thanos's minions. One can use magnetism to trap you and the other is a fighter. Don't underestimate them." I said, emotionless. As we rounded the corner and spread out the two walked toward us; Ebony Maw and Proxima Midnight striding toward us. Ebony began his 'rejoice' speech and I rose up higher, so I was five metres off the ground. Below me Dr. Strange and Wong summoned shields and Bruce tried to be angry, but the Hulk wouldn't come out._ _

__"Come on man, you're embarrassing me," Tony said to Bruce, who slapped himself. The Hulk roared 'no!' and disappeared. Tony sighed and his suit melted over his skin, walking forward to meet Thanos's children._ _

__The fight began, sending everyone in all directions. Tony got knocked through the air and I dove after him, dodging missiles and slowing his fall before he hit the ground. I noticed spiderman join the fight with almost detached interest._ _

__"Wizard, get on it!" roared Tony, and Spiderman shot after Dr Strange, who was in Ebony's clutches. I followed. We latched on to the side of the spaceship as it rose higher and higher._ _

__"We're too high! You're losing air!" I screamed at Spiderman, who pulled off his mask and gasped for air._ _

__"Yeah, that makes sense," he said, and Ironman rocketed past me._ _

__"Hey, Loki's sister, get back down to earth! We'll handle this!" he cried, trying to point me in the direction of the earth. I grabbed Spiderman as he fell and he grabbed back onto the ship before going into a swan dive and flying back toward Bruce. I landed lightly beside him. He was holding Tony's phone._ _

__"I'm going to call Steve," he said, and dialled the number. I listened as a voice on the other end greeted him._ _

__Bruce pocketed the phone and took my arm._ _

__"Eidunn, let's go. We have to go meet the rest of the team."_ _

__I nodded and lifted us both in the air, following Bruce's directions. I'd fight anyone at this rate. I was too angry to do anything else._ _


	16. The Avengers

I sat in the living room of the Avengers Facility with Bruce, watching Rhodey talk to the secretary of state. I'd been filled in on some of the situations with the Avengers, and learned a little about Ultron and Loki's invasion of New York. Rhodey seemed lovely, and I hoped the rest of the team were too. I hated to be out here without Loki. It didn't feel right.

As Rhodey passive-aggressively sparred with the secretary, five people entered the opposite hallway. "Mr Secretary," spoke the man at the front. He was tall and buff and had a brown beard, his clothing definitely armour. Bruce froze beside me, his eyes on a young woman with bleached white hair and a tight-fitting armour suit, weapons strapped to her waist. Behind these two stood an even younger woman, with strawberry blonde hair and a worried expression, supporting what was obviously a humanoid android. He seemed to be injured. On his other side was a young man with dark skin and a silver unit on his back, housing for some sort of mechanism. The secretary stepped forward.

"You." it was a direct attack to the pair at the front. "You've got some nerve, I'll give you that."

The woman stared him down, unafraid. "You could use some of that right now."

Mr Secretary moved back to the bearded man at the front, his eyes narrowed with dislike. "The world's on fire. And you think that all's forgiven?"

He challenged the man, who stared right back, expressionless. "I'm not looking for forgiveness." his American accent was strong. "And I'm way past asking permission." there was a long moment as they both recognised the challenge, posture upright, and then the man spoke. "Earth just lost it's best defender. So we're here to fight. If you want to stand in our way... We'll fight you too."

I realized earth's 'best defender' was probably Tony, somewhere in space right now. Bruce stood up and I awkwardly followed suit, feeling shy. These people were war-hardened warriors. 

Mr secretary turned back to Rhodey, who was watching in amusement. "Arrest them."

Rhodey nodded. "All over it," he said sarcastically, vanishing the secretary's hologram and grinning at the five. "That's a court motion," he shrugged. "It's great to see you again."

He shook hands with the bearded man and hugged the woman. Bruce whispered "That's Nat and Steve," and I figured Nat was the woman he'd talked a little about, who he loved. Rhodey looked them all up and down. 

"You guys... really look like crap."

"Yeah, well the hotels weren't exactly five-star!" bit in the young man, supporting the android. I heard the humour in his tone and liked him. 

"I- I think you look great," Bruce nervously moved into the light, me following him. As everyone's expressions changed to surprise and sadness, Nat's turned both cold and wistful. Bruce looked at her anxiously. "Yeah... I'm back."

"Hi Bruce," Nat stared at him, hiding her emotions. Bruce twisted his finger together and nodded. 

"Nat."

Behind Nat, the dark man shifted. "This is awkward," he muttered to the android.

There was a long moment and then Steve asked, "Who's this?"

"I'm Eidunn," I said. "Loki's sister."

"She's with me," Bruce chipped in. "She's powerful."

The team nodded at me, and Steve introduced them. "I'm Steve. This is Nat, Sam," he nodded at the dark young man, "Vision," the android smiled at me, "Wanda." the young woman looked at me carefully, her eyes kind. I smiled awkwardly as they were introduced. "So, Bruce. What can you tell us about Thanos?" Steve added.

*****  
Later, the team had been told all about Thanos and the attack on the Asgardians. When Bruce told of Loki's death, he went into no detail, constantly looking to make sure I was okay. I clenched my hands together tightly and held onto the tears. Nat gave me a sympathetic look.

When Bruce finished, there was silence. Sam broke it.

"So he's after infinity stones."

All eyes turned to Vision, who was leaning against the glass window, his hand on his gut. I realised he must be hurt. "Can I heal you?" I asked uncertainly, and Vision removed his hand, nodding. I placed a glowing hand on his gut and the hole from the blade closed over. I withdrew, avoiding the surprised looks from some of the team at my power. 

"We have to destroy it,"

the silence broken, everyone looked at Vision again, who was looking serious. "I've given a lot of thought to this entity in my head. About its nature, but also its composition." Vision looked at Wanda. "I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source- something very similar to its own energy signature- perhaps it's molecular integrity would fail." He was standing in front of Wanda, his eyes imploring hers to understand. 

"And you with it," Wands replied. "We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't have it," Vision said quietly. Steve watched with compassion on his features. 

"That's too high a price," whispered Wanda. 

Vision took her face in his hands. "Only you have the power to pay it."

Wanda moved from his grasp and turned away. 

"Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

Steve spoke. "But it should. We don't trade lives."

I watched this exchange calculatingly, knowing full well that Sam was watching me with distrust. Being Loki's sister does that. Vision moved toward Steve solemnly.

"Captain, seventy years ago you laid down your life to save how many millions of people, tell me, how is this different?"

"Because you might have a choice," Bruce moved forward from where he was standing with Nat. "Your mind is made out of a complex structure of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asked. 

Bruce turned toward her. "I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left but perhaps the best parts."

"Can we do that?"

"Not me, not here." Bruce shook his head. "But we better find someone fast."

"I know someone," Steve said. 

I looked at them, warriors all, and realised what I had not when I first laid eyes on them; their vulnerability. Like Loki, their tough exteriors were a protective shell to hide the truth; that they needed each other to survive. And when the whole universe was counting on them, they couldn't bear the thought of losing one another. I spoke up. "I can do it."

They all looked at me, everyone, even Bruce. I moved forward into the room. "The stone's energy signature is large, but my power outstrips it. Many of you can't touch the stone. I can." I reached out and gently laid a finger on Vision's forehead. Wanda shifted uncomfortably. "I believe, if you can find someone with enough technology, there is a foolproof way of doing this. I feel it. The stone is not Vision; it is only a small part of him."

Vision looked into my eyes and nodded. I could see he trusted me if no one else did.

"Do you guys trust this kid?" Sam asked the room at large. Vision placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I do. She is not lying."

Steve nodded. "Welcome to the Avengers, kid. Now suit up, because we're going to Africa."


	17. Wakanda forever

"Drop down to 23600." Steve moved to the front of the quinjet to where Sam was piloting. Sam looked at the unbreakable expanse of trees and at Steve. 

"You sure about this? Because we're gonna land a lot faster than we want to."

Steve just smiled.

I was seated beside Bruce and Nat, who were having a hushed conversation about where Bruce had been and how sorry he was. Across from us sat Wanda and Vision, looking tenderly into each other's eyes. Steve watched the cliffside come closer, a small smile on his face. We reached the trees and it was like breaking through one of Loki's illusions, coming out on a huge lake in front of an enormous, tech-filled city. We landed on the landing space where a troop of women warriors accompanies a young, dark-skinned man with a kind face. 

"Should we bow?" asked Bruce as we followed Steve out. Rhodey looked at him.

"Yeah, he's a king," he said. I could tell he was pranking Bruce and sure enough, when Bruce bowed, T'challa only looked at him.

"We don't do that here."

Bruce straightened up in embarrassment, giving Rhodey a look, while Nat watched fondly. Steve addressed T'challa.

"It seems I'm always thanking you for something."

"How big of an assault should we expect?" asked T'challa, leading us inside. 

"Uh, sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault," replied Bruce. 

"And powerful," I added quickly. 

"How are we looking?"

"You have my kingsguard, the border driver," replied T'challa, pointing at someone walking up to us. A man, who would appear young but I could tell he was much older then he seemed. He had shoulder-length hair and a metal arm. "I'm an OG and a semi-stable hundred-year-old man," he said, smiling at Steve. The two embraced. I watched him with interest. His features weren't chiseled like Steve's, they were smooth and pleasing. His gait and posture suggested strength and confidence within himself. 

"How you been, Bucky?" asked Steve, looking him up and down. Bucky smiled.

"Eh, not bad, for the end of the world," he flashed back. The two grinned at each other. 

"Please, come in, my sister will see to the android," said T'challa politely, gesturing to the enormous building in front of us. We all followed him inside and into an elevator, which opened onto a level filled with tech. The energy signal was very high.

A young woman with two coiled braids on either side of her head greeted us kindly and directed Vision to lay on the bench in one corner. She scanned his body with a holographic energy radiator and looked at the stone with interest. "Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"

Bruce, glasses on, looked at her in surprise. "We... didn't think of it?"

Suddenly, there was a strange sound and Okoye, T'challa's warrior and guard, lit up a holographic image of the earth. "Something has entered the atmosphere."

Three massive ships exploded on the top of the protective dome, and I peered out the window. I turned to Steve and opened my mouth but he interrupted me. "Shuri's got Vision. You go down and help Bucky and Sam."

I nodded and raced for the elevator, hearing T'challa barking orders behind me. The elevator arrived at ground floor and I raced out to Bucky's side.

"Hey, I'm Eidunn." I said quickly to him, holding out my hand. He shook it with his real arm and gave me a quick smile. 

"Bucky." he replied.

Behind us, legions of warriors spilled out onto the tarmac, staring at the ships that hit outside the dome. "let's go!" roared Okoye, running toward it. Bucky gave me a nod and we starte to sprint with her. Sam pressed a button and metal wings extended from the unit on his back. I rose into the air, green magic billowing around me. I grinned at Sam as we swooped through the air toward the border.

Bucky ran with Okoye and stopped as the legions assembled. The Avengers followed us, with an enormous army of Wakandans. We spread out, into formation, and watched the ships, Sam and I hovering far above their heads.

Three-legged, three-armed monsters ran toward us, thousands upon thousands, and gathered at the barriers, tearing holes in the image and some killing themselves. A few got through and the Wakandan's set up shields, their spears levelled. At T'challa's word, they began to fire.

Sam and I swooped and dodged bullets, blasting at the monsters. Sam had seven little robotic guns which flew around, shooting monsters and killing many. I shot crackling bolts of seidr like whip-lashes, taking out entire lines of them. In my earpiece, I heard Steve's approving sound.

"Where'd she come from?" roared Bucky, advancing with his gun. Rhodey joined us at the border, imploying several explosives. We watched in amazement as he blew up the entire group.

And then Okoye must have realised that the monsters were heading out along the border, and I faintly heard their conversation. The shields disappeared, and a small gap appeared in the border. As the army began to run, T'challa's black panther suit fell into place and he and Steve led the army, running flat out toward the oncoming horde, screaming a war cry.


	18. Thanos

As the battle became full-fledged, I found my eyes tracking Bucky, keeping an eye on him. I was too high up. I came lower and took out even more of them, fighting a gap to Bucky, who was pinned to the ground, punching at an enormous monster, his gun lying a metre away. I blasted the monster off him and killed it, it's body flying through the air and crushing some comrades. I threw him the gun and he smiled back at me before continuing to fight.

Rhodey was blasted out of the air and I caught him before he hit the ground, his systems wiped. Bruce was screaming in panic as the Hulk Buster was brought to the ground. Nat was almost overcome and Steve was just avoiding them. We were panicking; outnumbered and severely unmanned, when a burst of familiar light hit the ground, scattering both armies. I smiled with realization and swooped toward it, blasting monsters away from Thor as he landed, in the middle of the light. A hammer flew out, knocking monsters off Bruce, Nat, Steve, T'challa... and returned to the hand of Thor, his hair cut, his skin crackling with energy, a tree-man and a racoon by his side. The battle paused, staring at the new arrival.

"Hahaha!" roared Bruce, smiling from ear to ear. "You guys are so screwed now!"

Thor yelled a war cry and took off running at the oncoming army, lightning lifting him up into the air and bringing him down in an explosion so vast he knocked out hundreds of monsters. Hope renewed, we continued to fight, and I kept an eye on Bucky, who seemed to be doing well. He was wielding the racoon, shooting with one gun and the animal shooting from the grip of his metal arm. I blasted at a group about to jump Bucky and threw a ball of power over to the border, blowing up hundreds. Thor turned and saw me. We exchanged a nod.

Suddenly, the earth seemed to lift, and enormous blades thrust out of the earth, wheeling toward us, their fatal edges covered in soil. There were screams and T'challa yelled for us to fall back. I, however, flew forward and caught one flank, thrusting it back and around, where it took off toward the oncoming army. I moved to the other one but was waylaid by a heavily armoured woman with a good swing. Something red flew from above, catching the blades as they reached Nat and Okoye and sent them skidding back into the army. I realised it was Wanda.

"She's on the field. Take it." muttered the woman I was fighting into some sort of device.

I knew what she wanted. Rising up, I sped off toward the building where Vision was, but I was too late- two figures fell off the side of the building. I could see Vision among them. 

"Eidunn!" rang in my earpiece. "Wanda's on it! We need you here!"

"She is not on it!" I roared back, flying as quickly as possible toward Vision. I touched down as Bruce did, and he drew away one of the monsters. The other swung at me and I shot him back, into a tree. Bruce sent one monster soaring and the third ran at me.

I was too slow.

The spiked ball crushed my shoulder.

I screamed and fell to the ground beside Vision, and he advanced on me before getting shot away by Wanda, who landed in front of me. Blood soaked the ground.

"She needs help, healing! Someone!" screamed Wanda, crouching down beside me, one hand on Vision, the other on me. My shoulder was definitely broken; shattered. Only an Asgardian healer like Loki could help me now. 

Asgardian...

"Thor," I said weakly. She nodded and called into her earpiece, but got no response.  
The team assembled around us, Okoye and T'challa, Bruce in the Hulkinator, Nat with Groot, Sam and Rhodey, Steve and Bucky, Wanda and Vision, and me. 

There was a sound behind us.

The tesseract's light shone as Thanos stepped from the portal. I sat up, ignoring the throbbing from my shoulder, and Steve drew in a breath.

"Stay sharp. Eyes up."

He charged Thanos.

Wanda, tears pouring down her face, turned and, at Vision's nod, blasted the mind stone with her power.

Almost in slow motion, I watched the Hulkinator fade out of reality and fall into a wall, becoming solid within the rock. Steve being thrown into the dirt. T'challa, leaping into the air, only to be caught in the titan's grip and thrown to the ground, unconscious. Sam, his guns firing, wings giving way and sending him rolling into the underbrush. Rhodey's suit tightening, encasing his body like a prison, and being sent hurtling out of sight. Bucky, running at Thanos with his gun. Bucky! 

I tried to stand and managed, lifting into the air I caught him before he hit the ground and placed him beside me. He touched the ground gently, head lolling. Behind him, Okoye was sent flying, her spear broken, Nat encased in spears of rock, and Groot almost torn apart. Wanda watched with tears streaming down her cheeks and used both hands on Vision, who opened his mouth in a silent scream. My body was in pain. 

Steve got up, his shield broken, and caught Thanos' hand as he moved to get to Wanda. A scream left his mouth, all his strength going into keeping Thanos' hand open, and Thanos' other hand knocked out of the nowhere, punching Steve in the face and sending him sprawling to the floor, unconscious.

Thanos turned toward us.

I stood, knowing that Bucky was awake and Vision not yet dead, and conjured a bright green shield around us. Thanos ripped it apart with the infinity stones very quickly.

Wanda pushed one hand at him so that she was standing, arms outstretched on either side of her, as Vision's stone cracked and he fell to the ground, an explosion rocketed outward, pushing us all back. Bucky landed beside me and I collapsed, my strength used up, fading on the edge of unconsciousness. 

A green glow surrounded Thanos... the time stone. Both Wanda and I screamed with horror as he moved back time to before the mind stone was broken, Wanda jumped up to stop him... and was blasted backward. The stone was removed from Vision's head. Through blurry eyes, I saw the mad titan place the stone in his gauntleted hand.

And Thor finally arrived.

The hammer broke his blast of power easily, spinning through the air and impaling itself in Thanos's chest. The titan opened his mouth in horror.

"I told you, you'd die for this," Thor growled at him, landing in front of him and placing a hand on the titan's head. He wrenched the hammer in deeper and Thanos screamed in pain. 

"You should... have gone for the head," breathed Thanos, raising the gauntlet. 

And he snapped his fingers.


	19. Inevitable

I knew that he'd done it. 

As Thanos disappeared in a flash of blue, Steve raced up to Thor.

"Where'd he go? Thor, where did he go?"

Thor could only stare in horror at what he'd done.

"Steve?"

From behind me, Bucky stared at Steve and me as his legs disintegrated into dust. I could sense his presence gone as his body collapsed and floated away on the breeze.

Wanda's body disappeared too, turned to dust. In the distance, I heard screams of Okoye and realised we'd lost T'challa. The tree man did the same, leaving the racoon to collapse. Steve knelt and touched the dust that used to be Bucky. I could hear Rhodey calling Sam's name.

I couldn't believe what had happened.

There was silence as Bruce, Nat, Rhodey, the racoon, and Okoye stood around Vision's body, my limp one, and Steve kneeling on Bucky's dust, our breathing rough.

"Oh god," whispered Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow that was intense! Don't worry, it leaves the original story sometime in Endgame :) I'm not just writing Endgame down.


	20. A month later

As the Quinjet landed, I walked out with Bruce, Nat, Steve and Rhodey, Pepper in the lead. We watched the ship as it landed.

The light driving it faded, revealing a woman, her blonde hair billowing around her.

The doors to the ship opened and a woman made of machine parts exited with Tony, his arm over her shoulders. Steve ran to them and helped support Tony down the stairs. I waited behind respectfully, watching the woman come over.

Behind her, Pepper ran to Tony and they embraced, her quiet sobs muffled in his shoulder. Rocket approached the half-android woman and they sat together on the stairs, their hands clasped in mutual friendship.

"I'm Carol," said the woman. She turned to me, being supported by Rhodey, and touched my shoulder. I felt the shattered bones heal.

I stared at her in astonishment but everyone was heading inside so we followed, me trying out my shoulder. Completely healed.

*****  
"It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to earth," Rhodey informed the room at large. Holographic images of those dusted flashed in front of us, tearing at our hearts.

Nat spoke up. "World governments are... in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take consensus, and it looks like he did... exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out... half the universe."

I saw Carol's eyes were filled with tears as she stared at the holographic image of Nick Fury, among one of the dusted. 

"Fifty per cent of all living creatures." finished Nat.

There was a silence. In the corner of the room sat Thor, brooding, deep in thought.

"Where is he now. Where?" asked Tony, who was hooked up to a machine that kept him alive. 

Steve sighed. "We don't know. He just... opened a portal, and walked through."

There was a tense silence. I moved away from them, sensing Tony's state of mental health, and into the room where Thor sat. I sat beside him and gently placed a hand on his two clenched ones. I knew I was the only one he would let get this close. We shared the same feelings of grief and failure.

I rested a head on his shoulder and watched as Tony approached Steve. Eventually he collapsed, his strength giving way. 

*****  
As the team spoke, I listened; they had an idea of finding Thanos. In my grieving, exhausted, war-torn mind, it didn't matter. It'd end the same way.

Thor got up from his chair and stood in front of Carol, who turned to face him and stare him down. He summoned storm breaker and she didn't flinch.

"I like this one," Thor said, looking into her eyes.

"Right," Steve said, staring at the hologram of a planet. "Let's go get this son of a bitch."

*****  
"The stones are... gone?"

I stared at the group, everyone looking the same; grief-stricken and hopeless. I turned to Thor.

"Surely there's still a way to re-create them, rewind time or..." I trailed off. Steve placed a hand on my shoulder as he passed and they all headed off. Thor's breathing was heavy.

"I am going to New Asgard," he said finally. "Would you come with me, Eidunn?"

I hugged him. Although hugging wasn't a common thing on Asgard, Thor accepted the affection, gently hugging me back. I withdrew.

"I can't, Thor," I said softly. "I can't let myself rest knowing that people are in turmoil. I must help. You go. You deserve a rest."

Thor nodded and, with a parting look, disappeared off into the sky. I watched him go, my heart heavy. I sank to the floor.

This was our future.


	21. Five years later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Eidunn's been doing a load of stuff recently. Brushing up on the Avengers history, getting to know her teammates, helping Carol out in the universe, visiting New Asgard and Valkyrie and Thor. She misses Loki and Bucky the most. She is now in the avenger's facility, giving Nat some support.

"Scott," Steve said, interrupting the man's constant muttering. "Are you okay?"

Scott Lang, AKA Antman, stopped his harried striding up and down and nodded. We'd found him out the front, although we thought him dead, he had some crazy story about being in the Quantum realm. I'd heard of him. I'd heard of everything in the last five years.

"Yeah, I just... Have any of you guys studied Quantum Physics?"

"Only in conversation," said Nat. Steve and I shook our heads.

"Right, so. Before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum realm. The Quantum Realm is like it's own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope- she's my, um, well, she was supposed to pull me out, and then this happened, and I got stuck in there."

"Must have been a long five years," said Nat.

"That's just it," Scott turned to her. "It wasn't. To me, it was five hours. Years in the Quantum Realm aren't what they're like up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." he made a run for Nat's abandoned sandwich. '

"Scott," Steve said. "What are you talking about?"

"He's saying there might be a way to bring them back," I said clearly. 

Scott pointed his sandwich at me. "Time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it! what if we could somehow control the chaos and we could navigate it? What if there was a way we could enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time, but then exit at another point in time? Like," Scott paused. "Like before Thanos."

"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?"

"No, of course not," Scott said quickly. "No time machines, it's what I call..." he struggled for a word before deflating. "Yeah. A time machine. I know, it's crazy..."

"It's not."

They all turned to look at me. I cleared my throat.

"In Asgard, the gods hold sacred laws of reality that many have not studied or learned of. I have, in my time in the dungeons, read those books of lore. Time travel is possible for someone who uses Seidr. The Quantum Realm's energy signature is the same as Seidr."

They all stared at me. I sighed. "Seidr, meaning the power of Asgard, where Thor draws his power from?"

"So who do we talk to about this?" asked Scott. Steve, Nat and I looked at each other.

"Tony," we all said in unison.

*****  
We pulled up at Tony's house, seeing him walking back inside, a young girl in his arms. He met our eyes and gave a slight nod.

We entered the verandah, the shady trees making the space cool and sun shining on the lake outside, water rippling. Tony sat in one of the deck chairs as Scott told him the idea. he seemed worried as he studied our faces. "You're telling me the plan to save the universe is based on... back to the future?"

Scott held his gaze and shook his head. "No."

"Good, 'cos I was worried for a minute there. That's not how Quantum Physics works."

"Tony," Nat interrupted. "We have to take a stand."

"We did take a stand. And here we are."

"I know you got a lot on the line," Scott added. "A wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very close to me. Millions of people did. And now, now, we have a chance to bring her back, to bring everyone back, and you're telling me that you won't even..."

"That's right Scott," interrupted Tony. "I won't even." He waved us off a little. "You can go."

"Mummy told me to come and save you," Morgan Stark said, climbing into her father's lap. Tony laughed and replied lovingly. As he stood up, he muttered something about staying for dinner, but Steve stopped him.

"Tony, I'm happy for you. I really am. But this is our chance..."

"I'm not taking it," Tony said. "I can't."

As they walked off toward the car, I hung back. Tony made to go inside but stopped when he saw me. "Eidunn." he nodded.

"Tony, I know you want to," I said calmly. "I know you're going to try anyway. But please, please tell us if you're successful. I lost everything in that war. I would do anything for a chance to get them back."

I had tears in my eyes as I looked at him. There was a long moment, and then he nodded once. "Alright," he said. 

I hurried after the others to the car, where Scott was arguing with Steve. 

"We're going to need a really big brain," I warned them as Steve started up the engine. In the backseat with me, Scott looked shocked. Flipping his thumb toward Tony's house, he spoke.

"Bigger than his?"


	22. Brain

I sat beside Scott in the booth, uncomfortably squashed against him to avoid Bruce's arms as he spoke and gestured. On the other side of us, Steve and Nat were the same.

Bruce had, with my help, accepted the Hulk in the last few years and the two had merged. Now he was both smart and strong, and green. And large. But his features were definitely Bruce, less monster in his face, and he seemed to be getting along very well. He told Scott about how he'd treated the Hulk as a disease, but in the past few years had worked to accept him, with thanks to me for talking him through it and befriending both him and the Hulk. I smiled and patted his arm when he thanked me.

"...So, I put the brain and the brawn together. And now look at me. Best of both worlds." He held out his arms to show Scott the enormous body.

Three children edged up to us and asked if they could take a selfie with me and the Hulk. Scott took the photo.

"Do you wanna grab one with me?" asked Scott after he took the photo. "I'm Antman."

The children looked at each other uncomfortably and shook their heads. A minor argument broke out as Bruce tried to get them to take the photo and Scott tried to drop it. Eventually, I levitated the phone out of Scott's hand into the boy's pocket. They watched me in awe.

"Thank you, Enchanted," they said before they left. Apparently 'Enchanted' was the world's superhero name for me because Eidunn was too hard to pronounce. I didn't mind.

"Hulk out," Bruce called after the children. "Listen to your mom, she knows what she's talking about."

"Bruce." Steve cut in. Scott subsided, scarlet-faced beside me. I grinned at him.

"Just because I can't levitate things..." he grumbled under his breath.

"About what you were saying..." Steve prompted Bruce. Bruce nodded.

"Oh yeah, the whole time travel do-over?" Bruce said seriously. "Well, guys, it's outside of my area of expertise."

"Well, you pulled this off," Nat pointed out. "I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible too."

Bruce stared at her for a moment and then nodded. "I'll do what I can, but I can't promise anything." he looked at me. "This might need more than science."

My eyes widened as we realised what he meant, but the rest of the table was at a loss. Steve cleared his throat questioningly.

"Let's go," I said.

*****  
"Okay, here we go, time travel test number one!" Bruce stood behind the bench filled with devices. "Scott, fire up the, ah, van thing."

"Everything's set, emergency generators are on standby," Steve reported, walking over to Bruce and I as Scott opened the boot of the van and fired up the machine. 

"Good, because if we blow up the grid, I don't want to lose tiny here in the nineteen fifties." Scott looked annoyed.

"Excuse me?"

"He's kidding!" Nat said, working away at the computer. 

"It was... it's just a bad joke," Bruce excused himself.

"Alright, the computer's on standby, Scott, are you all set?" I asked, looking up from the screen beside Nat. 

"Yep, I am." Scott smiled confidently and then disappeared into the machine. Bruce counted down from three and we hit the buttons. There was Scott, but he was a boy, about ten years old.

"Um... guys? This doesn't feel right..."

He disappeared again, and I scrolled through the codes in panic, Bruce beside me. "Reset the time decoder!" I yelled to Nat, as Scott reappeared as an old man. She ran to the van and tried to flick through the panels, but Scott reappeared, this time as a baby. 

"When I say kill the power, kill the power!" Bruce yelled to Nat, who nodded and ran in the opposite direction to another group of controls. Steve watched with concern. 

"And... kill it!"

Bruce's fist smashed down onto the control panel as I recoded as quickly as I could and Nat killed the power. Scott reappeared as himself, looking nauseous. We all stared at him.

"Somebody peed my pants," Scott said nervously. "I don't know if it was baby me, or old me. Or just... me me."

We all breathed a sigh of relief and I rested my head on the screen in front of me, my heart pounding. Bruce, however, smiled.

"Time travel!" he cried, flinging out his arms. Steve groaned and turned away. "What?" questioned Bruce. "I see this as an absolute win!"

Steve left the room, his face both worried and anxious. I turned to Nat, who had a similar expression on her face. Scott hurried to get changed and cleaned up.

"Come on, Tony," I murmured to myself, standing up straight. I flicked off the controls and walked to the wall, sinking down it to stare broodily into space as Bruce looked confused at our downcast expressions. 

"Yeah, I know what you're gonna say. I'm here." Tony's voice floated into the room from beside Steve. I jumped to my feet and Nat and I stared at his entry, Steve clutching his old shield and Tony with a red briefcase. I broke into a smile and he nodded at me.

"We're getting the team together," Steve informed the room at large. "Nat, consult the channel and let everyone know to meet us. We also need to get Barton, if you're up to that?" Nat nodded and rushed to inform the team. Steve turned to us. "Bruce, Eidunn, we have to ask Thor to come. You know what state he's in."

"Wait until Rocket comes, and Bruce should go with me," I said. We all agreed.

"I'll make us some lunch. Good luck, everyone!" Bruce waved at us.


	23. The team

Nebula and Rocket were the first to arrive, disembarking from their ship. Rhodey followed soon after. I hugged them all, having gotten to know them well in the last five years, and headed off with Rocket and Bruce in the back of the van. I'd also learned to drive, the mortal's way of transportation. New Asgard was in Norway, a small fishing village. The Asgardians wore mortal attire and worked as fishermen in small houses, a quarter of what the grand city used to be.

"You shouldn't have come," Valkyrie called over to us as we got out of the van. 

"Ahhh, Valkyrie!" Bruce smiled and walked toward her. "Angry girl!"

"Think I liked you either of the other ways,"

"This is Rocket," Bruce introduced Rocket, who nodded at her. Her eyes flicked from Rocket to Bruce.

"He won't see you."

Bruce's expression saddened. "That bad, huh?"

"We only see him once a month, when he comes for 'supplies'." you could hear the quotation marks as Valkyrie's gaze moved to a large pile of beer cans. Bruce nodded.

I walked out from behind Bruce and gave Valkyrie a gentle hug. We'd grown fairly close on my visits to Mother and Thor, as she was under a lot of stress, basically leading the city as Thor drank himself into oblivion. Bruce and Rocket followed me to the house at the back of the city and knocked.

"I'll wait here. I don't think it wise to go in with you when I've seen the state of his mental health," I said quietly. "I'll come in when I know it's safe."

Bruce nodded in understanding and he and Rocket entered slowly. I waited at the door, listening to Thor's exclamation as he saw who it was, and the introductions, him blathering on about video games and such. Korg and Miek's voices sounded from inside. Eventually, it quietened, and I entered slowly.

"Now I know that... guy... might scare you..." Bruce was saying. 

"Why would I be scared of that guy? I'm the one who killed him, remember? You tell everybody I chopped Thanos's big head off."

I moved into the room and Thor caught sight of me. His tough exterior shattered, he stared at me, and I could feel the grief and depression rolling off him in waves. I moved further into the room and spoke softly. 

"Thor?"

He nodded and the bottle in his hand went back on the table. A tear traced down his cheek.

"Thor, when I was lost, when I was stuck as the Hulk and couldn't stop being angry, do you know who helped me?" asked Bruce gently, moving forward. Thor shrugged. "It was you, Thor. You helped me."

Thor collapsed into a chair. "I know you think I'm sitting here, wallowing in my own self-pity, but I'm fine, we're fine, aren't we?" Korg and Miek nodded. "So whatever it is you're proposing, I don't care, couldn't care less, please leave now."

I crouched down beside his chair and gently put a hand on his arm. "Thor, I wish I could help you. I wish Thanos hadn't happened, that you were still on Asgard, happy. I wish... That Loki didn't die." Thor stiffened at the name. "But there are so many other people out there who are going through the same experience now. They lost lovers, brothers, sisters, mothers. And we have a chance to bring them all back but we need you, Thor. Please. Finish what Loki started."

Thor's eyes were teary as everyone watched the exchange. Then he nodded and sniffed and drank some more beer. "Fine."

*****  
Back at the Avengers facility, I cast an illusion of my Asgardian robes; a green dress that cinched at the waist and fell to mid-thigh, stocking beneath that. In Asgardian garb, I was more powerful. I entered the main room to find it full of Avengers. 

Tony had been busy, using scores of used-to-be agents to build the machine he'd envisioned. As I emerged from my room in my new outfit, Thor and Tony had a hurried discussion and Rocket was putting the finishing touches to the time machine. In another room, Scott and Bruce adjusted the time-travel suit with the help of Nebula and Rhodey and had an argument about how precious the pym particles were. Clint leant in the doorway of a room and I watched him with interest. He seemed withdrawn like he was hurting inside and had formed a protective shell. He offered to go in Scott's place and I helped him get into the suit.

In the main room, I levitated up to the ceiling to hook the wire Tony had given me and uncoil it until Tony could grab hold and attach it to the machine. 

"We're online!" called Tony up to me, and I gave him the thumbs up before tying the wire into place and lowering myself to the ground. "Clint, you ready? Racoon?"

Two nods and the team stood back, allowing Clint to stand in the middle of the platform on the machine, looking nervous. Bruce and I took the screens, getting everything ready.

"Alright Clint, we're going in three, two, one.." the Quantum Tunnel opened at Clint's feet and sucked him into it. We waited three seconds and then sucked him back out. Clint reappeared, doubled over, breathing fast and heavily. Nat sprinted up the platform and grabbed his shoulders and neck, reassuring him that it was all fine. Bruce and I watched expectantly. he held up a baseball glove, and looked at Tony. "It worked."

We all smiled widely and Rocket gave a whoop. 

"Right," Steve said, clapping me on the back. "Let's figure out our plan."


	24. A plan

"Okay, so the 'how' works," Steve said. "Now we gotta figure out the 'when' and the 'where'. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six infinity stones."

"Substitute 'encounter' to being damn near killed by one," Tony said.

"I haven't," said Scott. "I don't even know what the hell you're talking about."

I leaned forward and offered him my hand. He took it, looking confused, and as he pulled away quickly I knew my memory had entered his head. Steve nodded at me.

"We only have enough Pym particles for one round trip each," Bruce said. "And these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history."

"Our history," interrupted Tony again. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in."

"We gotta pick our targets." 

"Correct." Tony nodded at Clint. 

"So, let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" Steve asked Thor. We all turned toward him to find him motionless in a chair, sunglasses on, a beer tipping precariously in his hand. 

"Is he asleep?" Nat asked.

"No." Rhodey replied. "I'm pretty sure he's dead,"

"I can tell you," I said quietly. They all turned toward me instead and I stood up, moving toward the holographic images of the Aether.

"The Aether appeared back when Frigga was alive and Thor was dating Jane," I said quickly. "There was a fight between Thor and Loki and the Dark Elves, who wanted it because, if merged with your soul, has the ability to create different realities. The reality stone." I nodded to Steve. "Thor has the exact year and time when the Aether was inside Jane, on Asgard, which is our best bet for stealing it."

Everyone nodded and I sat down. Rocket got up and swiped to the next stone- the power stone. 

"Peter stole the power stone from Morag," said Rocket. "A planet. In outer space." Scott's eyes widened. "Oh, look, it's all excited, like a little puppy. Do you want to go to space, puppy? Puppy go to space."

Nebula stood up as the soul stone popped up on the screen. "Thanos stole the soul stone from Vormir. An epicentre of death, at the very centre of celestial existence. It's where Thanos murdered my sister."

There was a pregnant pause.

"The time stone," Nat said, laying back on the table. Bruce sat in the corner beside her. "What kind of Doctor was Dr. Strange?"

"Master of the mystic arts," I informed them, cutting across Tony and Nat's rambling. "177A, Bleeker St."

"Wait he lived in New York?" Nat asked suddenly, receiving mixed answers. "Guys, if you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York."

"Shut the front door," Bruce said.

"Alright, we have a plan. Six stones, three teams, one machine." We all went silent. Bruce spoke up.

"So, what are those teams?"

"Thor, Rocket... To Asgard. Nat, Clint, Vormir. Rhodey, Nebula, Morag. The rest of us will go to New York."

We all nodded and I realised; New York, when Loki tried to enslave mankind. "Let's go, everyone. Suit up." Steve called, and we dispersed, our minds buzzing with the plan.


	25. Time Heist

"Alright, strike up those keys, jelly green," Tony called to Bruce. There was a tense and nervous silence in us as we bumped fists in the middle of the circle. I'd infused the time suits with the ability to fade with illusions like Asgardians could so that we wouldn't be walking around in a onesie. Bruce pressed the keys and joined our circle on the platform. We looked at each other solemnly.

"See you in a minute," Nat smiled.

As the machine began to turn, opening the tunnel, our helmets clicked into place, our eyes locked on the ground, our hearts thumping in our chests. I felt myself shrinking as we disappeared into the Quantum Tunnel.

As I navigated through the expanse of colours, I followed Tony out and grew back to my normal size. My helmet clicked off and I looked around me. Steve, Bruce, Tony and Scott did the same. I suddenly had the realization of how many men were in The Avengers. I shrugged it off.

Around us, the city was a mass of destruction. Chitauri warriors clung to buildings and screamed and roared. People fled the streets and buildings burned. The sky was a mass of Chitauri chariots and beasts, and the ground shook with explosions. 

"Alright, we all have our assignments. Two stones uptown, one down. Keep an eye on the clock." Steve nodded at us. We all jumped as the Hulk bounded into sight, roaring wordlessly, jumping up and down on top of a car before throwing it at a Chitauri warrior and disappearing. Bruce looked mortified.

"Maybe smash a few things on the way," Steve suggested. Bruce nodded and half-heartedly punched a car. I followed Tony and Scott toward Stark Tower. Tony's Iron Man suit formed and I levitated into the air, while Scott shrunk down and held onto Tony's shoulder as we flew. 

*****  
As we entered the building, Tony and I hid behind the slatted wall and peered out. I felt my heart ache at the sight of my brother, his face and body bloody, lying defeated on the stairs as the Avengers stood around him.

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now," Loki told them. I pressed a trembling hand to my mouth to stop myself from crying and Tony put a hand on my arm.

"Steady there, Eidunn. Looks like we're just about finished here."

"Approaching the elevator now," Steve said into the earpiece. In the room, younger Tony made a joke. Normal Tony, beside me, made a gagging sound.

"Mr Rogers, I almost forgot. That suit did nothing for your ass," Tony said. Steve chuckled in the earpiece. 

"No one asked you to look, Tony."

"I think you look great, Cap." Scott added. I'd almost forgotten he was there. "As far as I'm concerned, that's America's ass."

In the room, Nat held the sceptre with the mind stone inside it. Behind us, the elavtor dinged and we hurried to get behind a wall. A heavyset man and two guards emerged, taking the sceptre off Nat's hands and packing it away into a case. 

"Who're these guys?" asked Scott.

"They're SHIELD... Well, actually HYDRA but we didn't know that yet." Tony explained for both our benefits. 

"Seriously, you didn't? I mean, they look like bad guys." 

"You're small, but you're talking loud." Tony hissed at Scott. In the room, the Avengers herded Loki into the elevator, strapping a muzzle to his mouth. He followed them meekly.

Tony was packing the tesseract into a case. Scott got into position and real Tony flicked him into the case, where he bounded up the arm of young Tony and into his Arc Reactor. Tony and I ran to the window, threw ourselves out and flew down to the bottom of Stark Tower. Our illusions melted away to become like the guards at the base, and we watched the Avengers leave the elavtor with Loki in their midst. 

"Thumbelina, it's time, I've got eyes on the prize," Tony hissed into the earpiece. Scott replied quickly.

"Alright, I'm going inside you."

As the group were waylaid by the secretary of state, they had a debate about where Loki would be answering for his crimes. As past Tony resisted giving them the case, Scott pulled out a wire in his Arc Reactor and jumped out of him. The case holding the tesseract slid along the floor to where we were standing. Tony picked it up and headed for the stairs, but as he opened the door, the Hulk burst out, sending Tony flying through the air. I dove toward the tesseract, which slid out of its case and stopped against someone's boot. I looked up and realised it was Loki. Running forward, I dived to grab him as he picked up the tesseract and disappeared, me with him.


	26. A trip down memory lane

"Eidunn?" crackled in my earpiece, but I didn't reply, realising my imminent danger; here was Loki who didn't know me and had the tesseract. I looked around and saw we were in an overcast country paddock, somewhere far away from any houses. Loki turned around and our eyes met. We stared at each other.

Although he was muzzled and handcuffed, Loki was still a danger to me. In my earpiece, Scott spoke.

"That wasn't supposed to happen, right?"

"Tony, what's going on?" Steve asked. "Tell me you found the cube... you got to be shitting me."

"Eidunn, where are you?" asked Tony, but I stopped listening, letting my illusion wash over me, transforming my features slightly and changing to Midgardian garb. I flicked my fingers and the muzzle was removed from Loki's mouth.

"Foolish mortal," Loki said calmly. "Now I shall have to kill you."

The handcuffs broke and fell to the ground and a dagger appeared in its place. As he lunged, I allowed myself to glow, my mortal attire changing to Asgardian, my features returning to their normal colours. My long, black hair fell around my shoulders and swirled in the light. Loki paused, shocked.

"You're Asgardian?" he asked incredulously. I shook my head. 

"No, Loki," I said softly. "I'm of Jotunheim."

And my true features finally appeared, green eyes turning red, pale skin turning blue, delicate lines appearing on the ridges of my cheekbones and chin. Loki's dagger dropped to the ground.

"Who are you?" he asked finally, taking in my features. "How do you know my name?"

"I'm just someone who loves you very much," I said gently. "And I miss you very much, too. But this is not my reality. I'm from the future... our future. And I need the tesseract."

"Why should I give it to you?" asked Loki. I paused and then made a decision.

"because you give it away, in the future. You give it away to save the world. You make a very... selfless choice. You give your life for this cause. To kill Thanos."

He stumbled back, watching my skin and eyes turn back to normal, and looked down. I moved forward and grabbed his wrist, not in a violent way, and entwined our fingers. I felt tears gather in my eyes. "I miss you."

He pulled his hand away and nodded once. His free hand raised, the tesseract formed, and I took it, still staring into his eyes. Then, unable to help myself, I launched forward and hugged him briefly, before stepping back and using the tesseract to go back to New York. I heard Steve's voice in my ear, anxious, and I pressed the earpiece.

"I have the cube, where are you at?"

"I have the sceptre," replied Steve quickly. "We gotta get to Scott. Tony?"

"We're outside the building, in a car," Tony said quietly. I looked around me and realised he was only a block away. I broke into a run.

I found them all, Tony sitting in the seat of an old car, Scott leaning on the bonnet. They both looked worried. When they saw me, their expressions cleared.

"Success," I said happily, holding up the tesseract. Tony jumped out of the car and hugged me, which was unlike him. I handed him the cube and he placed it in the case, but as he did so, it disappeared. We both stared in horror.

"What?" Tony stared at the empty case. I realised suddenly and sank to the floor.

"Oh my god, of course. Loki gave me an illusion, a fake cube... of course. He didn't want to kill me, so he tricked me instead. Why didn't I..."

Scott sank into the backseat of the car and I leaned against the wheel. Tony sat down in front of the car.

"So we failed," he said calmly. "That's great, just great."

Steve approached us quickly, the sceptre in his hand. When he saw our downcast faces he paused.

"What happened?"

"Loki did," I said tiredly. Steve nodded.

"Is there any other chance?"

"We failed, that's it!" Scott slammed the door of the car angrily. "We got no more chances, no do-overs. We failed. We have one particle left, and we need them to get back."

"That's it!" Tony jumped up and pulled me up with him, leaning in toward Steve and I. "We have to get the particles. I have a vaguely exact idea about where they are, but if it works, we can go and get the tesseract, try again." Behind us, Scott tried to ask what was going on but to no avail. "Scott. Get the sceptre back. We've got something else to do."

"Wait!" we all turned toward Scott, who looked concerned. "If this fails, you're not coming back, you know that. Right?"

"Thanks for the pep talk, piss ant," Tony said.

I turned to Scott and gave him a small smile. "I got nothing to lose, Scott. This is Tony's choice."

Tony turned to me and Steve. "Do you trust me?"

Steve and I looked at him in the eyes and at the same time, spoke. "I do."

"Your call," said Tony nervously. Steve took a deep breath.

"Here we go," he said, all our bodies tense, as we programmed the data into our navigators and counted down. Our suits switched back to our usual time travel ones and we disappeared into the Quantum Realm, leaving Scott behind.

New Jersey was sunny and warm as we appeared just inside the army camp's boundaries. A large sign near us read 'Birthplace of Captain America'. 

"So, you clearly weren't born here, right?" Tony asked as we strode confidently along the footpath, fake uniforms on. 

"The idea of me was," Steve said.

"Where'd he hide it?" I asked Steve. Steve stopped and looked straight ahead of us.

"In plain sight."

In front of us lay an old army bunker, grass growing along the top of it. Two uniformed men looked left and right before entering. 

"What's the plan?" I asked quickly. Tony waved a finger at me.

"You go with him. I've got my glasses, I'll be fine."

"To be honest, you're the one that needs more protection..."

"I'm fine."

"Okay!"

We entered the elevator with a uniformed nurse, who looked at us suspiciously. As Tony left, she turned to Steve.

"You're new here."

"Not exactly."

She stared at me and I could tell she was suspicious, but the elevator dinged and we got off, leaving her behind. 

Steve called Dr Pym from the phone in the next room while I waited at the door to the lab. As Dr Pym came running out, knocking people aside in his haste. I entered casually and scanned the room, quickly finding the Pym particles. I pocketed four and hurried to find Steve, who was waiting for me. We walked casually down the hall. The woman we'd seen earlier approached with two thickset security guards, describing Tony and Steve and I to them. We dodged into the nearest office.

As they passed, I went to open the door but found that Steve was no longer beside me. "Steve?" I asked, turning around. He was staring at the desk, which held a collection of photographs of a young, skinny man with Steve's face. In the room beyond, a woman entered, and I heard a sharp intake of breath from Steve.

"Steve, we have to go..." I trailed off as he moved silently to the window, staring at her face. I moved forward and put a careful hand on his shoulder, warning him not to address her or risk blowing our cover. He nodded at me as she left the room.

Outside, we spotted Tony with another man, holding an armful of flowers. The man took the flowers from him and Tony gave him an awkward hug, heading over to us afterwards. 

"And back in three, two, one..." Bruce's voice over the earpiece was muffled. And we disappeared into the Quantum Tunnel, hoping against hope the others were as successful.


	27. Sacrifice

As we emerged from the tunnel, our helmets snapped off and we stared at each other with anxiety.

"Did we get them?" asked Bruce quickly. When no one answered, Rhodey laughed.

"Are you saying this actually worked?"

Clint stepped off the pedestal, his face ashen, wet to the bone, bruises on his skin, and we all noticed; Nat was not there. A cold hand squeezed my heart. Nat was not... Nat could not be...

"Clint?" asked Bruce. "Where's Nat?"

Clint swallowed hard and looked up at him, no words needing to be spoken. Bruce fell to the floor. One fist hit the earth, not hard, but enough to expose how he was feeling.

I sank to my knees, my head in my hands, left in this circle of men without what had become one of my best friends. Steve looked at the floor.

*****  
"Do we know if she had family?"

Tony's voice was husky from grief. We were sitting in the dim light of dusk on the jetty, staring moodily into the water. 

"Yeah," Steve said. "Us."

"What?" Thor staggered forward. "What are you talking about?"

"Wasn't a question..." Thor cut Tony off, right in his face.

"You're acting like she's dead, but we have the stones, right? So we can stop this shit, where the Avengers die together..."

"We can't get her back." Clint didn't need to raise his voice.

"W- what..."

"It can't be undone." Clint looked calmly at Thor. "Can't."

Thor laughed, making us look at him with sadness. "I'm sorry, but you're a very earthly being, and we're talking about space magic. They aren't very different, don't you think..."

"Look, I know that I'm way outside my- my paygrade here," Clint interrupted. "But she still isn't here, is she?"

"Well that's my point..."

"It can't be undone!" Clint cracked; tears fell down his cheeks. "Or that's at least what the... red floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay! Go grab your hammer, and you go fly and you talk to him!"

There was a silence as Thor looked away and the rest of us felt the loss beneath his words. Clint looked around at us. "It was s'posed to be me.She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone, she bet her life on it!"

Bruce unexpectedly ripped the wooden chair out of the jetty and flung it far across the lake with an inhuman yell. When he turned to face us, his face was sad but calm.

"She's not coming back," he said quietly. "We have to make it worth it. We have to."

Steve rose beside Tony and looked around at us all. "We will."

*****  
"Okay, the glove's done, but we have to decide whos gonna snap their frickin' fingers," Rocket looked around at us. Thor moved toward it.

"I'll do it."

"Wait, wait!" Tony tried to push him back but Thor was stronger, reaching for the glove. I levitated the glove into my hand quickly and shook my head.

"We make a decision together, Thor. Just hang on a minute!"

"Well I'm sorry, are you just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?" Thor asked incredulously. "I'm the strongest avenger, this duty falls upon me." Tony tried to stop him, their voices clashing, as we all watched on, knowing that Thor might once have been the strongest avenger, but in no way was his mind strong enough to withstand the stones. 

"It's not that this has enough power to light up the entire continent, I'm telling you, you're in no condition," Tony said calmly. Thor glared at him.

"What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?"

"Cheez Whiz?" Rhodey asked sarcastically. Thor pointed at him.

"Lightning," he whispered to Tony, who raised his eyebrow. 

"Lightning won't help you pal, it's gotta be me," Bruce said sadly. I stayed quiet, letting them talk it out. "Look what the stones did to Thanos, they almost killed him. None of you would survive."

"How do we know you will?"

As Bruce explained, I stepped forward, holding the glove high in the air. They stopped talking and looked at me.

"In case any of you didn't notice, which you didn't, I'm holding the glove. I'm touching all six stones right now." I showed them my fingers, touching the metal. The whole room had frozen. "You're all thinking physically and mentally strong, but that's not right. Yes, Bruce was made from Gamma, but that doesn't mean the stones will accept him. Yes, Thor's mind is in no condition to deal with it. It's the energy signature we all put off, and unfortunately, mine far outstrips all of yours."

"How do you know, when you put it on, you'll remain unscathed?" asked Steve. I turned to him.

"I don't. But I know that I have the power to block their properties if things go bad in my direction. Please."

Bruce nodded slowly.

*****  
"FRIDAY, do me a favour and activate back door protocol," Tony requested, summoning a shield and allowing his iron man suit to take over. Rhodey's helmet slipped into place. Thor stood in front of Rocket and Scott adjusted the helmet on his Antman suit. Steve merely held up his shield. Bruce watched anxiously.

"Remember, don't change anything from the last five years," Tony said. "Just bring them all back."

I slipped my hand into the glove.

Pain and power wracked my body, not burning, but definitely burning my hand slightly. My frost giant form took over without my consent. As I raised my finger, I could feel the power of every stone flow through me, and I concentrated as hard as I could on my goal.

_Bring back everyone who was dusted, and Loki _I thought, not meaning to add the last part as I snapped my fingers. At the intake of power, I fell to the floor and the glove fell off.__

__"Eidunn!" yelled Tony, falling to his knees beside me. My arm was burned, but not too badly. Clint kicked away the smoking glove as Tony used his suit to cool my throbbing arm._ _

__"Did it work?" I asked them dazedly. In the background, Scott began to walk out of the room._ _

__"We're not sure, just, it's okay..." Thor reassured me, as they all knelt around me, my arm burned. I clutched Rhodey's arm without realizing as Tony sprayed a fine mist of water across my arm._ _

__Suddenly, we all heard the sound of a phone ringing, it's dull vibration echoing around the room. Clint's eyes widened as he realised who was on the phone and I smiled widely although my arm ached. It worked._ _

__"Guys..." Scott whispered. "Guys, I think it worked."_ _

__As I looked up, I saw the ship looming above me and threw out both arms just as the bullets hit, a shield of magic around my family, as bullet after bullet fired on the facility, pushing us further into the ground. They all huddled around me as the weight of the ceiling grew too much and the shield shrank, and finally imploded, sending us flying deep into the foundations, into the darkness._ _


	28. Endgame

"Come on, wake up!"

I opened my eyes, disorientated, to see Tony's face swimming above mine. He cupped my cheek before bending over me to dig an unconscious Steve in the ribs.

"Where... What..."

"We're under the foundations, Thanos fired on us. I don't know where the others are." Tony looked worried. I got up stiffly and groaned at the pain in my arm.

"What happened?" asked Steve, waking up. Tony pulled him to his feet.

"You mess with time, it tends to mess back. You'll see." Tony looked at us both and nodded. "Come on."

We made our way out of the ruins, seeing Thor standing motionless, watching a figure in the middle of the battlefield. The sky was black and smoke lay in every direction, like an apocalyptic movie. 

"What's he been doing?" asked Tony.

Thor answered. "Absolutely nothing."

"He doesn't have the stones," I said. Steve nodded.

"I say we keep it this way."

"This is a trap, you know that, right?" Thor looked at us all.

Tony shrugged. "I don't much care."

"Good. So long as we're all in agreement." Thor summoned lightning and it shot across his body, returning Mjolnir and Stormbreaker to his hands. "Let's kill him properly this time."

As we ran forward, I let the power wash over me, raise me up. As we approached, I could tell Thanos was talking, but I was too full of adrenaline to listen. We attacked.

Steve was thrown to the ground first, unconscious. As I threw blast after blast of power at Thanos, he swung his blade and directed them back at me, making me spin in the air to avoid them. Tony tried to blast him but he was too fast. Stormbreaker and Mjolnir swung around, hurtling again and again at him, not changing anything, not injuring him. As we fought, the skies rumbled and lightning split the sky. 

I could feel the other's presence somewhere in the foundations. As Tony loaded up a chargeable blaster, Thor hit the energy booster with his lightning, super-powering Tony and sending power flying at Thanos.

Thor roared as he sent Mjolnir hurtling toward Thanos, who spun his blade to evade it and caught Tony up in his arms, tearing at the suit. I blasted Tony away from him. Tony fell to the ground metres away, unmoving. As I raced in with Thor, an edge of the blade caught me on my hip, just slightly, but knocked me off balance. 

One of Thanos's enormous fists smashed me far away from him, landing hard on the ground. I saw Thor hit the rock, Stormbreaker pressed into his chest. Thor yelled in pain as Thanos pressed the blade hard into his armour.

Just when all seemed lost, Mjolnir came hurtling from nowhere and knocked Thanos off Thor, then turning around and hurtling back to someone's hand.

I turned and sucked in a gasp of air; disbelieving, sure that I was dreaming, my eyes fell on my brother, holding Mjolnir in one hand.

His face was sooty and streaked with blood, as though he'd been fighting, but his stance was defiant as he held Mjolnir out, ready to fight. Beside him, Steve summoned Stormbreaker and lightning flowed through the pair.

"Loki!" I screamed and got up, my energy renewed, and threw myself on him, almost knocking him over. Blood and tears mingled on my face as we hugged each other, wary of the present danger but for the moment uncaring.

Loki gently pushed me away and the three of us faced Thanos, me with a blade made entirely of magic, Steve with Stormbreaker and Loki with Mjolnir. And we charged.

Almost in slow motion, the three of us sent Thanos flying through the air, his head thrown back, hitting the ground hard. As we sent bolt after bolt of lightning through his body, Loki raised Mjolnir and jumped high before hurtling down to where Thanos was lying, but in a second Thanos had rolled away and was on his feet. His arm knocked me into something hard and cold and I realised it was Tony.

"Tony?" I hissed, tapping the mask. It opened and I touched his cheek, allowing healing powers to flow through his body, and he awoke slowly, blood running down his chin. Loki fell to the ground beside me and I rose to see Steve being smashed, again and again, by Thanos, into the ground.

As we ran to join him, the blade swung out of nowhere and all three of us, at once, were sent hurtling across the ground, hitting the ground a far distance from the titan, winded and bruised. 

We all lay there for a second, shocked from the heavy blow, and Thanos spoke.

"I'll tell you now," he said calmly, "What I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet- I'm going to enjoy it." Thanos smiled a little. "Very, very much."

Behind him, a blinding white light hit the ground, revealing an enormous army of monsters- tens of thousands of creatures, against the three of us. They marched silently down the enormous crater, their armour strong and blades at their sides.

Loki, Steve and I stiffly rose, in pain from injuries across our bodies, Steve standing in the middle, the two sorcerers at either side. He adjusted his armour, tightening it, his eyes desperate but his stance strong. This was an army we could not defeat.

Behind the army, Thanos's ship was suddenly surrounded by the Chitauri army, flying majestically through the air to the groundsmen, smooth, rippling hides shining with metallic armour. 

As we readied for the last, desperate fight of our lives, there was a crackle in our earpieces. Steve and I froze, simultaneously reaching up to touch them, not believing our own senses as a familiar voice crackled through the device.

"On your left."


	29. Our stubborn, annoying little planet

I turned slowly, along with Steve and Loki, staring as one of Strange's portals opened slowly behind us. Bright yellow light streamed through, silhouetting three people; a man, guarded on either side by a woman. As they walked slowly onto the battlefield, their faces came into view; Okoye, T'challa, and his sister, Shuri. I breathed out, realising that my snap had worked... we had brought back those dusted. 

Behind the three warriors, an enormous army of Wakandans who had been dusted five years ago moved forward, shouting T'challa's war cry. T'challa's eyes turned to Steve and he nodded slightly, respectfully. Steve nodded back.

A shadow swooped from the portal, metal wings spread, arms out in triumph; Sam. I smiled as he swooped over our heads.

More portals were forming, Dr Strange emerging from one with a group of fighters, weapons at the ready, and behind them, Spider-man, or Peter. He landed on the ground and nodded at us.

As the Wakandan army emerged, my heart skipped a beat, for there, striding strongly, was Bucky, gun in hand. His eyes met mine and we nodded at each other. 

And now hundreds upon hundreds of portals were forming; in the sky, on the ground, and Thanos was staring as though he couldn't believe his eyes. The Asgardians emerged with Valkyrie in the lead on her pegasus, dagger in hand. Wanda landed in front of them with her magic forming between her hands. My heart beat faster and faster as those I had mourned emerged, expressions grim, eyes on Thanos. 

Beneath the rubble of the building, Scott emerged, enormous, his hand closed around three people I had hoped against hope weren't dead; Rhodey, Rocket, and Bruce, who jumped to the ground with smiles on their faces as they took in the sight of the enormous army, and still coming. Tony got to his feet as a suited woman landed beside him, her face set as she helped him to his feet. As Pepper and Tony stood beside us, Thor got to his feet too and took Stormbreaker from Steve.

From the portals above our heads, strange ships emerged; those of war-torn planets from every corner of the universe, hungering to revenge their dead. Thousands of armies, striding out of their planets to get their revenge.

"Avengers!" roared Steve, lifting his shield up into the air. The army stood still on both sides, ready to fight. As Loki and I lit up pulsing balls of power between our hands, Steve spoke. "Assemble."

There was a roar, louder and fiercer than anything I'd heard before, the cry of billions of lives unfairly torn apart, clamouring to do what was right, as we charged.

Tony and Pepper fought side by side as Scott cut swathes through the army, still supersized; all those who could fly lifted into the air as the two armies collided and attacked from above. All around me was chaos, and I had no time to be scared; the adrenaline of battle pulsing through my veins like a second heart, lifting me higher, keeping me intent on my prey and filled with the energy to fight, and kill. 

Beside me, Loki had my back, us spinning around in circles as we took out massive chunks of the army, while my earpiece crackled, Clint's words barely eligible.

"Steve, I have the stones, can somebody tell me what to do with this thing?"

As Steve fought, he struggled to speak. I blasted a monster off him and he gasped into the earpiece. "Get them as far away as pos-"

"No!" Bruce interrupted. "We need to get them back to their proper time sl-" the rest of his sentence was drowned out by a monstrous roar and he turned to grapple with a huge Chitauri warrior. 

"But Thanos destroyed the time machine in the blast!" I yelled, covering Bucky now. Scott disappeared and I knew he'd turned to human size.

"That wasn't our only time machine!"

Far away, I heard the horn of a car, tooting an odd combination of sounds. Scott called into the earpiece. "Anyone seen an ugly brown van anywhere?"

"Yes, but you're not going to like where it's parked!" called Valkyrie. Steve nodded down below me, apparently forgetting that nobody could see him.

"Get it started, we'll get the stones to you," he called. I heard a voice give a word of approval and I followed Steve, keeping the fight away from him as much as possible. From above, I tracked the stones; passing from Clint to T'challa, who avoided the monsters as they tried to take it from him. As he ran toward the clearing, something struck him in the face and sent the gauntlet hurtling in the opposite direction, sliding to the ground.

Thanos paused for a moment before moving toward the gauntlet, but before he could someone landed in front of him... Wanda! Her eyes glowing red, she spoke through gritted teeth.

"You took... everything from me."

"I don't even know who you are!" said Thanos, moving toward her. As the two locked in combat, T'challa grabbed the gauntlet and began to run, only to be swept up in a pile of rocks controlled by Ebony Maw. Peter took the gauntlet from T'challa using his webs while Loki and I moved in on Maw, keeping on eye on Peter as he swung through the sky, only to be knocked down by a blast of gunfire from the ship, which had begun to fire in all the troops.

I realised Thanos had ordered it and Loki and I used all our strength to keep a shield above our heads as we protected our allies below. I lost track of Peter for a moment, but he reappeared on Valkyrie's back.

As the gunfire increased, I saw friends being knocked down; Peter, under a rock, the gauntlet clutched tight in his arms; Groot, who grabbed ahold of Rocket and hid his head, Bucky, making me scream and dive toward him... and then the gunfire stopped.

In the sudden silence, the army rose, staring upward, confused at the lack of gunfire, as the canons turned toward the sky, and I heard Tony ask FRIDAY a question.

"What're they shooting at?"

"Something just entered the upper atmosphere, sir."


	30. Savior

A gold-tinted fireball was racing toward us, straight at the ship, bullets ricocheting harmlessly off its slipstream, and smashed straight into the enormous ship. The guns went limp as the power cut and explosions rang out high above our heads. The fireball slowed, and I realised it was Carol, her hair cut short, surrounded by a glow of power.

We cheered as it exploded from the inside, collapsing into the lake, sending spray in all directions. 

Carol landed at Peter, and I followed, leaving Loki to cover Steve, in time to hear Peter speak, staring at the oncoming horde.

"I don't know how you're gonna get the stones through all that."

Carol smiled as we landed around her, the air crackling with power.

"Don't worry," Wanda said calmly. Okoye jumped down beside me and Valkyrie touched down behind us.

"She's got help," Okoye said grimly. And I realised all the women I'd grown to love had joined us; Valkyrie, Okoye, Pepper, Carol, Wanda, Shuri, and a few I didn't know but liked all the same; Mantis, Gamora, Hope, Nebula. We began to run as the army charged us. 

The battle this time had no rational thought but one; get the stones to the van. Monsters were wiped out mercilessly in our stampede, Chitauri creatures collapsed to the ground, power flew through the air, and Carol had almost reached the van...

Something long and sharp pierced the van, and the tunnel exploded.

Light and sound waves billowed out in every direction, knocking us back with the force, and I collapsed, free-falling through the air, only to be caught by two cool, strong arms a metre from the ground. I turned my head to see Loki's eyes looking straight at me, sweat and blood and dust on his face and body, and a look passed between us as I pushed myself back into the air, trying to regain the lost time by blowing a path to where Thanos was. 

He was grappling with Tony, throwing punches as Tony tried his best to evade it. As Tony was knocked to the ground, Thor rushed to intervene, blocking his strikes with Stormbreaker, Steve on his back. Thanos lashed out, throwing the two men off him, punching Steve hard in the face to knock him out and picked up the gauntlet and placing it on his hand. I was knocked out of the way by Carol.

Desperately, she pulled, electricity and power crackling around her, encasing her in gold light. Her face full of agony as she used all her strength to pull and throw punches. Thanos's other hand could not punch its way through to her as she attempted to open his fist, separate his fingers. 

I tried to fight my way through to her, Loki and I, our magic mingling to make us stronger, but the minions of Thanos were intent on keeping us away. 

I saw Carol sent flying, saw Thanos raise his hand, saw Tony desperately try to rip the glove off, and was sent flying to the floor. Thanos raised his hand and spoke strongly, the sound carrying across the battlefield.

"I... am... inevitable."

He clicked his fingers.

Nothing

happened.

Nothing.

We all turned to see Tony, kneeling on the dust, his face bloody and expression full of pain as he put the glove on. The light went up to his neck, burning the delicate muscle, and I screamed and blasted the army out of my way in my haste to stop him.

"And I... am... Iron man." Tony breathed.

His fingers snapped.

Around me, the army turned to dust, but I didn't care, I was flying at top speed toward the mortal now collapsed against a rock. Rhodey landed beside him and removed the gauntlet as Peter collapsed beside him.

In front of me, the army collapsed, dust scattering on the wind like ash after a fire, and Thanos gently and gracefully dissolved into the dust which blew away. The army was gone, but no one celebrated. All eyes were on Tony. 

"Hey," Peter said, crying. "Mr Stark? We won, Mr Stark. We won." A hand rested on his shoulder as I knelt down beside Tony, gaging his condition, and Peter moved aside as Pepper crouched down. 

"Tony, look at me." she smiled and put one hand on mine. "You're gonna be okay."

I took a deep breath and grabbed Loki's hand. Our free hands came to rest on any bare skin we could find, his cheek, his hair, and we concentrated hard, letting our souls entwine, and our minds left the earth and went somewhere else entirely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't expect that, huh? :) having a lot of fun here, thanks for all the kudos my lovelies! Please please give me feedback, I can't tell you how much it means to me that you take a moment out of your day to comment!


	31. The soul world

When I opened my eyes, I could see a gentle red light all around me.

I turned slowly, realising my feet were in some sort of water, yet completely dry. My movement sent ripples along the surface of the water to another pair of feet. Loki.

We clasped hands as we moved toward the wooden structure lying a little away from us; the only sound was our breathing, gentle and soft, and the slight rippling from the substance at our feet. 

At the wooden structure, we stopped, letting Tony step forward to greet us. He was standing beside a woman with red hair and a loving expression as her eyes fell on us all.

"Nat," I said sadly. "I'm so sorry..."

She moved forward and we embraced, her face sad but her smile sweet as she looked at all our faces. "I know we won," she said finally. "That's what I wanted. If that gives you the happiness you deserve." her eyes fell on Loki's hand clasped in mine. 

"Are you happy?" asked Tony finally, and Nat nodded.

"I'll be here when it's your turn," she said softly and placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Now is not that time."

Tony's eyes grew bright as he understood what she meant. Loki and I nodded at each other and he squeezed my hand.

"I'll miss you," I said to Nat as the light brightened. She smiled. 

"I'm not gone."

******  
As I opened my eyes, I realised that the marks from the stones had faded somewhat off Tony's neck as red light flowed from our hands into his body, combating the injury with the power of the soul stone. Tony's eyes cleared as the burns withdrew from his skin, disappearing into his hand, healing every last mark, until our strength gave out and both Loki and I fell back, drained of power. Someone's arms were around me, lifting me up, one feeling cold and metallic to my warm skin as I felt myself being carried away. 

And everything went black.


	32. In Beloved Memory

We held Nat's funeral at the lake of Tony's house, building a raft and setting her assortment of personal belongings on it; A locket, an old bullet, and a lock of hair she'd given Clint long ago. We sent it out on the lake in silence, watching it float and eventually sink, sending small ripples across the lake. We were all there. 

Clint headed the crowd, his gaze on the raft, an arm around Wanda. Tony, Pepper, Rhodey and Morgan assembled behind him, followed by Steve, Bruce, Loki and Thor and I, Bucky, and Scott. And then the rest of the Avengers and assorted allies stood; the guardians of the galaxy, Peter and his Aunt May, Dr Strange and Wong, Hope and her parents, Okoye with T'challa and Shuri, Clint's family, who hastened to hug him and gently lead him away from the lake, Sam, Maria Hill with the secretary of state, Carol, and finally, Nick Fury, who stood next to her and the two smiled. 

Looking around at us all I felt a sense of peace and belonging, amid these incredible people, who shared the same grief and had each other. As we began to disperse quietly, I found myself in step with Bucky, and Loki left my side with an odd look at the two of us.

"So, we never really got to talk every other time I met you," I said. Bucky smiled.

"Too busy keeping armies off my back?"

I blushed a little. So he had noticed. I opened my mouth to make an apology but Bucky stopped and took my arm.

"No, thank you. You saved my life, more than once." His eyes were warm. I smiled, the blush cooling.

"That's what a hero's job is, I guess," I said, laughing a little. As we went quiet I had a thought. "Maybe we should..."

"Have a proper talk at some point?" Bucky interrupted. "I'd love to."

As we arranged the date and time, I noticed Loki and Thor watching us, whispering to each other. I said goodbye to Bucky and headed over, raising my eyebrow at their cheeky expressions. "What?"

"Sister, of all people..." Loki trailed off and chuckled quietly. Thor slapped me on the back jovially.

"We're just friends!" I protested weakly, that annoying blush rising to my cheeks again. Loki began to lead the way toward our Quinjet. 

"Sister, I'm happy for you!" he said, taking my arm. "Now we have a very important visit to make, together."

My smile faded as I nodded at him, wondering how it would go. Thor herded us onto the guardians' ship.

"Don't worry so, brother," he said. "I think everything's going to be alright."


	33. Home

Valkyrie whispered to one of the women who crowded up to her and then turned to Loki and me, who waited nervously. She gestured for us to follow her.

"She's waiting for you," Valkyrie pointed. Following her finger, I saw mother's cottage, with a figure in a sun chair outside, covered in a patched quilt. Valkyrie whispered "Good luck" before leaving us to approach her.

I put a hand on Loki's arm and he allowed me to approach her first, sitting down in the chair beside hers.

"Mother, it's me, Iris."

She turned her gaze from the gulf and smiled at me softly. "Iris," her voice was husky and frail. A shaking hand took mine. "So good to see you, my darling."

"I've brought someone for you," I whispered. Her eyes shifted into the distance as if she could sense Loki's presence, and her greying head nodded the tiniest of nods. I waved Loki over.

He approached slowly, then stood beside the sunchair, wide eyes taking in her features; green eyes like ours, grey hair and lined face. Her eyes rested on him and she smiled, reaching out her other hand toward him. Loki came closer and knelt down, taking the offered hand.

"My beautiful son." she smiled at him and her right hand caressed his cheek. "Look how much you've grown."

"Mother, I-" Loki's voice cracked and I saw a tear well up in his eye, dropping down his cheek. He went to wipe it away but mother beat him to it. "I'm not the boy you knew..."

Mother nodded, both hands lifting his face to hers. "I know, Loki," she said calmly. "I'm so sorry. Not a day has gone by that I do not think of you, wish I'd fought harder to stop you being taken... But you grew up just as beautifully! Look at you, my son. I could not have been prouder at what my child has become." one hand went back to mine. "What my _children _have become."__

__Loki smiled a little as she squeezed our hands and sat back, her eyes on the glittering sea beyond the gulf._ _

__"I'm glad I got to see you before I leave," she said, even softer so that we had to bend in to hear it. "They're calling me."_ _

__There was a small silence as we understood what she meant and bittersweet tears sprung to my eyes. As a golden sunbeam hit the chair, bathing the frail old woman in bright, sparkling light, her body dissolved and merged with the sunlight. And for a second, Loki and I saw the image of a young woman, hair long and black, her eyes sparkling with power, a blade in her hands as she smiled before the light disappeared out across the ocean._ _

__Our eyes followed her until she vanished, and then I moved around the sunchair to put an arm around Loki as we watched the waves toss beneath our feet, our hearts full. We were home._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess thats it! Might add chapters if I want :)

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment and leave Kudos if you like!  
> Thanks for reading my lovelies!


End file.
